LaColle The written history of Lacolle can be traced back to July 4th, 1609 when Samuel de Champlain stopped

for a meal into the lake which now bears his name. In his journal Champlain refered to the location of the delta as "Lacole". In 1733 the King of France granted the northern half of the Lacolle seigniory to Louis Denis de la Ronde. The southern two leagues were granted to Louis Leonard de Beaujeu. Both men served as French officers during the Colonial Wars. By 1741 both tracts were reclaimed by the Crown. In 1743 the southern half of the seigniory was acquired by David Lienard de Beaujeu, son of Louis. In 1752, David Lienard de Beaujeu was granted the northern portion with the condition that both tracts become one seigniory, 4 leagues by 3 leagues. During this period the land was known as the seigniory of Beaujeu. In 1784, Christie returned to Montreal after being away for about seven years. The Treaty of Paris, signed the year before, had drasticlly reduced the size of Quebec. It had also redefined the southern boundries of the seigniory of Lacolle.

Soon after Christie's return to Montreal, his son and eventual heir to the seigniory, Napier Christie, married Mary Burton, the daughter of Montreal Governor Ralph Burton. The Burton family were gentry in England who held titles and land in East Yorkshire. As a result of this union, Napier Christie took on the Burton name and acquired title as Lord of Hotham Hall in York and Lord of Hall Bank in Beverley, Yorkshire, England. This marriage event likely influenced the cultural and social development of Lacolle since some thirty years later during Napier Christie Burton's tenure, an overwhelming majority of Lacolle's English settlers were natives of the same Yorkshire regions. In March of 1867, Queen Victoria signed the British North America Act establishing a constitution for the new order. By Royal proclamation it came into effect on July first of that year when Upper Canada (Ontario) and Lower Canada (Quebec), Nova Scotia and New Brunswick were united into the Dominion of Canada.