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I

n 1891, Viscount Émile Ogier d'Ivry passed away in Chêne-de-C?ur, France, leaving behind his wife Angèle and their three children. Angèle's biggest challenge as the dowager of an important family was to make sure the children established themselves appropriately. Raoul, her eldest son and the new Viscount had suffered from cerebral meningitis as a teenager and his intellectual ability had remained that of a 14-year-old. He was in his late twenties, and with his handicap he was not the ideal head of the family. Thankfully, he was an adorable, charming, active young man and he already had a devoted spouse, Elza. Angèle undertook to relocate this fine young couple to Canada telling them that their mission would be to establish the Ogier d'Ivry name in the New World. They travelled across the Atlantic, up the St. Lawrence and to the frontier of French Canada of the time, a town just beyond the reach of the railroad called Ste. Agathe. One imagines that from Ste. Adèle north, they must have travelled with a retinue and made quite an impression. There Angèle met the writer and journalist B.A.T. de Montigny who had recently, and perhaps reluctantly, acquired his uncle Pierre Casimir Bohémier's farm. This family, also descended from gentry, was just the ticket for Angèle. She purchased their farm for her son and returned to France, where sadly she discovered that her only other son Jean was terminally ill with tuberculosis.

Raoul began his ambitious project of establishing a new Ogier dynasty in this pioneer French outpost in Canada. He built a large country house and barns on the lake and he never missed an opportunity to display his family's illustrious emblem and title. He was generally well received and over time he always managed to pay his bills upon receipt of a remittance from his mother. With the security of this money he tried his hand at farming, but soon tired of it and sold the property to a group from Montreal who began a cross-country ski lodge, the Manitou Club. Pictures of the house can be seen in Neil and Catharine McKenty's recent book Skiing Legends and the Laurentian Lodge Club. Ogier d'Ivry also acquired an additional property where he was told he could mine iron and titanium, but it never produced any viable ore and today is a water-filled cave entry in the woods. During the prewar period, Ogier ran a tour boat on Lake Manitou and had one of the nicest boats on the lake, although not everyone appreciated it. Steam-driven, it relied on wood for its fuel and sparks flew from its stack, at one point igniting and burning Oliver's Point (today the Manitou Valley Road).

In the years after the arrival of the train, the lake became a recreational destination and many Montreal families established homes on the shores. Shortly before the First World War, Ste. Agathe experienced a tax revolt that degenerated into a bitter power struggle between the priorities of the local town and those of these new residents. The town's power base consisted of its local member of the legislature in Québec and whatever influence he could muster, while the second residence owners, generally influential businessmen in Montreal, could resort to various and generally more influential members from their urban ridings. On top of that, the rural riding in question was in the process of being divided, a much-needed redistribution but poorly timed for Ste. Agathe. The issue was settled in 1912 when the provincial legislature passed a bill creating the municipality of Ivry-sur le-Lac. Viscount Raoul Ogier d'Ivry was the region's best-known and most colourful citizen, and when his name was adopted for the new town, he must have felt that the universe was unfolding as it should. In the 1912 Album historique de la paroisse de Ste-Agathe a page is set aside to announce the creation of Ivry, with a picture of the Manitou Club, the "ancien château du Vicomte". To one side is a picture of a surprised looking M. A. L'Allier, postmaster for Ivry and disenfranchised councillor, and on the other side, a dashing looking man in a fur hat described as Vicomte R.O. d'Ivry.

When the Great War began, Gaétan, the Viscount's only son, went overseas and enlisted with the British to fight for the liberation of France. The Viscount put his boat up in dry-dock and declared he would not float it again until his son returned, but after the war, Gaétan discovered his many cousins in Chêne-de-C?ur. His aunt, who lived to 99, had 13 healthy children. Gaétan ultimately re-established himself in France, acquiring the family manse from his aunt, and today Raoul's grandson Phillippe, Comte Ogier d'Ivry resides in Chêne-de-C?ur.

In 1930, Raoul's mother passed away and his circumstances deteriorated dramatically. He and Elza moved into lesser accommodations and even began to depend upon a small garden with the stoic perspective of the impoverished noble. His daughters married and moved away. Elza died in 1950; the Viscount followed shortly after in 1952, but just before his death learned that the last male in the line of the Comte Ogier d'Ivry had passed away, causing the title of Count to devolve to him.

Special thanks to Comte Philippe Ogier d'Ivry for help in preparing the foregoing.

Joseph Graham has written a book that features a select number of stories of Laurentian places and how they got their names. To learn more, click here.

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This material may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the written permission of the author. © Joseph Graham