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W

e call it the town of Weir, but its real name is the Municipality of Montcalm. Even in the phone book, however, it barely clings to its real name. In the Municipal listings in the blue pages the town hall (Hôtel de Ville) is usually listed with its address, most of the time marked as being in the town that is being described. An example of this can be seen in the listing for Prévost, which is identified as being on Curé Labelle Boulevard in Prévost. Of course this makes perfect sense and is consistent with the listings for most municipalities, but in Montcalm, the Hôtel de Ville is marked as being in Weir.

These are not two different places. When I called the town to ask when the name had changed officially to Montcalm, I was told that the town was never called anything else, but that the post office was always called Weir. None of us will ever forget Montcalm, but it is up to the English residents of the Laurentians to remember Weir, and we are not doing a great job.

According to 'The History of Weir' compiled by Bevan Jones, the town received its name from Judge J. Weir, of Ottawa. It is not clear whether he named it, if so which Weir he named it for, or if it was named for him, but according to a legend repeated in The History of Weir, Judge J. Weir was the son of a general in the War of 1812 who was asked to open up the Weir territory for settlement. Given that it is the post office that carries the Weir name and that the first postmaster was appointed in 1904, it would seem more probable that the general who served in the War of 1812 would have been the grandfather or great-grandfather of the judge. It is also possible that the judge named the post office for one of the following:

In 1870 Canadians were faced with a financial crisis because we had no standard currency. The marketplace was flooded with American silver coins that had been devalued after the Civil War, but were being traded at face value here despite the fact that the banks had discounted it. Anyone accepting these coins at face value was stuck with a loss when trying to trade them, but they were so prevalent that they were destabilizing trade in Canada. William Weir, a Montreal Exchange Broker, masterminded a solution. Working on behalf of the Dominion Government, Weir encouraged the banks to draw these coins out of circulation while the government circulated the first Canadian coins and bills. Subsequently the banks tolerated their use at 80% of face value, making it no longer profitable for people to bring them in from the States. Within a few months, the plan successfully eliminated the coins from circulation and encouraged the introduction of our own Canadian currency. William Weir therefore could be called the godfather of the loony.

William Alexander Weir, not the one mentioned above, was born in 1858 and represented the County of Argenteuil in Quebec around the time of the opening of the post office. He was the editor of the Montreal Star in 1880 and 1881 and became the editor of the Argenteuil County News from 1895 to 1897. He was a lawyer who participated in the updating and writing of the Municipal Code of Quebec as well as in the Civil Code and the Education Act of 1899. He was a minister in both the Parent and Gouin governments and finished his career as a Quebec Superior Court Judge and a Montreal District Court Judge.

Robert Stanley Weir, according to one source the brother of W.A. Weir, was born in 1856 and is credited with the writing of the English version of O Canada. At the time he was working as Recorder for the City of Montreal and wrote the translation in honour of the 300th anniversary of the founding of Quebec City. According to The Great Canadian Trivia Book, Robert Stanley Weir is credited with representing the same Argenteuil riding as William Alexander Weir, for the same period and the same party. R.S. Weir is reported to have been the representative from 1903 to 1910, at the peak of W.A. Weir's career in the cabinet.

Perhaps the least likely candidate for the naming of Weir is George Weir, a British officer who was captured by Wolfred Nelson during the Patriot uprising of 1837 and was killed 'accidentally' when he tried to escape.

Last and possibly least, while the first two postmasters of Cushing were named Cushing, a man named Thomas Weir followed them as Cushing's postmaster from 1893 to 1915.

It is clear that, whatever forgotten episode led to the naming of the Weir post office, the Weirs have contributed significantly to our history.

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