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Note: The Chateauguay River Valley, Ontario, Canada (Where Patrick was born), several miles to the south-west of Montr�al on the south shore of the St-Lawrence River, is an area rich in the history of Qu�bec. In the 1600's, the governor of New France granted the region to Charles Lemoyne, already the owner of the Seigneurie of Longueuil. In 1673, Lemoyne built a manor house and a chapel called Chasteau. The manager of Chasteau being named Gu�, the records of the time referred to the Chasteau de Gu�, which evolved into Chateauguay. The seigneurie changed hands several times after Lemoyne's death in 1685 and due to the preoccupation with the war with England and the Iroquois, was not developed to any great degree, although a second chapel was built on the western shore of the river in 1735.
In 1760, France lost Canada to the British. During the 1800's the area began to be settled by the Scots and the old fur trade was replaced by logging as the most important industry of the region.
In 1812, the United States declared war on England and the following year, the locally formed regiment of about 300 known as the Voltigeurs, Indians, some militia and British regulars successfully defended the area against 3000 American troops led by General Hampton in the Battle of Chateauguay
During the following fifteen or so years, animosity built up between the French-Canadian and English-Canadian settlers, largely due to an economic crisis and the Colonial government's practice of granting the choice lands to the Scottish inhabitants. In 1838, after an aborted attempt to take over the region, the French 'Patriotes' were arrested and imprisoned in Montr�al. The British retaliated by destroying their homes.
The County of Chateauguay was created in 1855 from a section of the old Beaharnois District. Included within its boundaries were the parishes of Chateauguay, Ormstown, St-Antoine Abb�, Ste-Martine, St-Joachim, St-Philom�ne, St-Jean Chrysostome, St-Malachie and St-Urbain. The population at the time, consisting mainly of French and Scottish families, was in the slightly more than 16,000. A description of the county written in 1880 reads as follows..." The agricultural excellence of this county is proverbial, the valley of the Chateauguay River forming one of the most productive sections in the Province. Grain growing and dairying form, in about equal parts, the staples of agricultural pursuits, the county being well-adapted to either. The general surface ranges from level to slightly undulating, but in the most southerly portions rather formidable hills are frequent, while boulders are plentifully strewn."
It was in this setting that Patrick George McCollam (I have found several spelling variations in Canada on the name) was born. He was a fascinating character... born in Canada, he was a trader for the Hudson Bay Company in his youth, paddling around the Canadian wilderness in a canoe, trading with the Indians. He emigrated to the U.S., settling in Connecticut, where he married Annabelle Candee, the granddaughter of a French Count.
During the 1940's, Patrick lost a grandchild to polio, and was so driven by grief that he developed and patented the first truly portable "iron lung" resuscitating machine. The basic principle is still in use today.
In the depths of the Great Depression, Patrick gathered his family together and left Akron for Beckley, West Virginia, where he and his then grown-up children built the first drive-in restaurant in the state. It was built in the shape of a Chinese Pagoda, and called The Pagoda Drive-in, and was a great success. His son, Maurice, and his wife ran it, and his daughter Laura worked there as a waitress. Maurice's wife Sara and her family still run the Pagoda and its successor motel.
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