HISTORY OF THE LAND OF CAMPING ILE-MARIE

First of all, I would like to thank two people who wish to remain anonymous, for the research* done on the land’s history. This was not easy research to do. While reading this, you’ll see that the information goes as far back as October 30th 1894.

I have to say that doing research in the archives that we have received is like visiting an old cemetery filled with great memories. In the following lines, I will try to help you discover these archives filled with secrets, and quite different from one another. You will see that, through the years, many people and companies have shared the title “owner” of this beautiful land.

Vous allez constater qu’au cours des années, plusieurs personnes, compagnies, etc. ont partagé le titre de propriétaire de ce magnifique terrain.

Let’s start with the first information that we have found:

• Before October 30th 1894, the land belonged to Mr. Herbert-Ernest Bieber.
• On October 30th 1894, Mr. Bieber sold the land to Mr. Geo W. Egmont Bieber.
• M. Bieber keeps the land for three and a half years, until May 11, 1898, when he sells it to W.H. Ross & Co.
• After acquiring the site, Mr. W.H Ross & Co, sells it on December 5th 1906 to Mrs. James H.M Parker.
• Mrs. Parker comes a long way with the land since she kept it until January 7th, 1915, so, for about 8 years.
• It is impossible to find in the archives what the owners did with the land while they owned it.
• Finally, on January 7th, 1915, Mrs. Parker sells her land property title by selling the land to Witkie B. McCaw.
• The same day, on January 7th, 1915, Witkie B. McCaw resold the land to James H.M Parker & Wife.
• On February 28th, 1917, James H.M Parker & Wife, give up the property titles to Merril T. Eldridge, who would be owner until March 28th 1919, the date when a transaction is registered between Mr. Eldridge and Robert Bonaventure, who became the new owner.
• Mr. Bonaventure keeps the land until July 27th 1923, so for about four and a half years.
• On July 27th 1923, Mr. Bonaventure sells the land to James G. & Victor R. Beattie.
• On October 10th, 1940, James Beattie sells his part to Victor, who becomes sole owner of the land. James will keep the land for eleven years, and finally sells it to Mr. J.A Patenaude, on August 16th, 1951.
• The same day, Mr. Patenaude resells the land to Dr. Lionel Groleau. Dr. Groleau keeps the land for thirty-four days, then makes another transaction to Mr. J. A Patenaude.
• Mr. Patenaude keeps the land until June 17th 1954, when Mr. Gérard Côté from Sherbrooke, wishes to acquire the land.
• Since I’ve known Mr. Côté, who was a bus driver for Laramée in Sherbrooke, I know he works really hard, on weekends and holidays, to build a bridge to reach the land, which was and still is an island.
• Mr. Côté was finally able to connect the two banks and built a small campground. It was the beginning of what it would become for the next years.
• For personal reasons, Mr. Côté sells the land on July 13th, 1970 to Mr. J. Léo Nadeau, after owning it for the last sixteen years.
• Mr. Nadeau keeps the land for two years and resells it to Mr. Wilfrid Grégoire on July 11th, 1972.
• Mr. Grégoire starts to build a larger campground. Back then, the campground’s name was L’Île Côté.
• In his wife’s honor, whose name is Marie, he names the campground Camping Île-Marie. You now understand the provenance of the current campground’s name.
• After owning the campground for ten years, Mr. Grégoire sells it to a cooperative formed by several campers, on February 3rd, 1982.
• The campground becomes Cooperative de camping de l’Île-Marie.
• After nearly twelve years of operation, the cooperative sells the land to Mr. Patrice Guérin, on November 26th, 1993.
• After owning the campground for nearly six years, on September 12th, 1999, Mr. Patrice Guérin and his wife, Muriel Couvet founded a company to buy the land, which is now called Camping ÎLE-MARIE Inc, and is now the property of Mr. Patrice Guérin and Ms. Muriel Couvet, until the selling date.
• On January 1st, 2006, Camping ÎLE-MARIE is sold to 9161-2648 Québec Inc.

Majority of the research was done at the Régistre Foncier du Gouvernement du Québec and other places.

I would like to thank you for taking the time to read what I’ve written. This information was written following the growing demand of many campers on this beautiful site. Many of them wanted to know a bit about the land’s history. Mission accomplished!

If you have any comments, please send them to me by clicking on my name!

Thank you!