To mark the 110th anniversary of Kingsville, Quebec changing its name to Thetford Mines, the Courrier Frontenac newspaper reports that the genealogy and history society, the Société de généalogie et d’histoire de Thetford Mines, conducted a survey to measure the knowledge of 128 grade five students about their local history.
The society put together ten questions about the economic, municipal, and sports history of the community.
The results of the Thetford Mines survey is that the youngest generation has little knowledge about its roots and that not much information about local history is shared from one generation to another.
Teachers often say their course load is already full and they have little time to teach local history, and that is where the society comes in. The purpose of the survey was to determine what the society could do to help young people learn about history.
The next step for the society is to conduct the same survey among high school students.
I can see a genealogy society conducting a similar survey to find out how well young people know their family history, especially if the society plans to launch a program for students and generate interest from media.
As its name suggests, Thetford Mines is a mining community. The first inhabitants in the region were the Abenakis, followed by the French, Loyalists, Americans, English, Scottish, Irish, as well as immigrants from the Ukraine, Poland, Romania, Czechoslavakia, and Italy. Large asbestos desposits were first discovered in 1876, and mining for it began the following year. Today, about 25,000 people live in Thetford Mines.
The following is my translation of the questions the students were asked in French.
History of the town of Thetford Mines questionnaire
1. Which Thetford Mines parish was moved to allow for the mining of asbestos?
2. In 1905, the town became Thetford Mines. What was its name before this date?
3. What was the main economic activity before the discovery of asbestos?
4. What year did one of the two asbestos strikes take place?
5. Circle the name that has nothing to do with the old mine: Bell, King, Adams, Beaver, British Canadian
6. The current mayor of Thetford Mines is Marc-Alexandre Brousseau. Who was the former mayor?
7. What type of work does a gobeuse do?
8. How many times has the region of Thetford Mines hosted the Quebec Games?
9. Circle the name of the newspaper that has never been published in Thetford Mines: Le Mineur, Le Canadien, Le Mégantic, Le Télégraphe, Le Courrier Frontenac.
10. Which Thetford Mines goalie played for the Quebec Nordiques?
To learn more about this survey — and the answers to the questions — read the Courrier Frontenac article.
