Russian immigration in the 20th century
Rawdon has been, since its beginnings, a multiethnic community populated by Irish, Scottish, British and French-Canadian residents. Over the years, Rawdon became more ethnically diverse, and, in the first half of the 20th century, a Russian community progressively came to settle here.
Here's what Rawdon resident Vladimir Boldireff told us about the Russian community that settled in Rawdon, during an interview with the La Société d'histoire de Rawdon in the spring of 2023.
The Boldireff family
Father Oleg Boldireff, while in exile in Paris, France, met his future wife, Natalia Maliantovitch. From this union were born five sons: Sergei, Vladimir, Nicolai, Andrei and Oleg jr.
Father Oleg and his family emigrated to Canada in 1948, as the priest of the Saints Peter and Paul Church, a Russian Orthodox Church in America, located in Montréal, had died.
Father Oleg Boldireff was asked to replace him, as he could celebrate mass in Slavonic (1). The family therefore decided to leave France for Montréal. Vladimir, who was born in France in 1942, was 6 years old then. It should be noted that Father Oleg Boldireff was still a political refugee at the time and would finally get his Canadian citizenship only at the age of 45.
First contact with Rawdon
The Boldireffs’ first contact with Rawdon was in the summer of 1949 when they rented a house for a week that was located across from the Kenny Barbecue restaurant, at the corner of Queen Street and 11th Avenue West. This house belonged to Dr. Khazatchenko, a Russian who had had four houses built on that block. The family returned there over several summers. At that time, Queen Street on the northwest side ended at 13th Avenue. Father Oleg had a cottage (dacha in Russian) built on 17th Avenue in the 1950s [EN: 1955]. He had purchased this property from Mr. Georges Rowan, who owned several lots on the north part of Queen Street. At that time, 17th Avenue ended at Father Oleg’s house [EN: a little farther than Sainte-Anne Street but not up to Morgan Road]. Father Oleg then decided to build a small chapel adjoining his house a year later. He named the chapel in honour of Saint Seraphim of Sarov, and it was used to celebrate mass on Sundays for the Boldireff family.
This sketch was drawn by Alexis Chiriaeff, husband of Ludmilla Chiriaeff, during their holiday stays in Rawdon.
Rawdon’s Russian cemetery
Father Oleg understood that the Russians in Rawdon needed a cemetery in the municipality. Mr. Ross Lawes (2), from a well-to-do English family, gave Father Oleg the money to buy the land for the future cemetery. It was the engineer Mr. Skotetsky who drew the plans for the cemetery. He planned the water and electricity supply systems and the walkways. This cemetery, located at the corner of Woodland and Petrograd streets, was completed in 1961. Later, Father Oleg’s chapel would be moved to there. The cemetery still had to be attached to the Saints Peter and Paul Church. Mr. Vladimir Boldireff believes that it was also Mr. Skotetsky, albeit advanced in age, who drew the plans for Rawdon’s ecumenical cemetery on Route 337 (extension of 3rd Avenue toward Saint-Alphonse) and Forest Road.
Excerpt : "My father always wanted the cemetery to be for all Russians, not just for members of the Church of St Peter and St Paul or the Russian Orthodox Church".
Father Oleg retired from the priesthood at the age of 75, as he no longer had the strength to lead a parish. During his active religious life, Father Oleg established several parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church in America, mainly in the United States and other locations in Canada, including Detroit, Vancouver and Rawdon, with Ottawa being the last.
Vladimir Boldireff
Vladimir Boldireff was a physical education professor at Cégep du Vieux Montréal and was passionate about volleyball. With the Montréal YMCA team, he won the Quebec volleyball championship, but not the Canadian championship , in 1966. The Palestre Nationale, on Cherrier Street in Montréal, trained elite teams in several disciplines but did not have any in volleyball. Mr. Boldireff was asked to train a junior level team. And that team was the best in Quebec, winning the provincial junior championship and the Canadian junior championship when Mr. Boldireff was a player-coach. The team also played in the United States in different cities including New York and Rochester. In 2008, his team from the Palestre Nationale was inducted into the Quebec Volleyball Hall of Fame. Later, Mr. Boldireff was asked to lead the men’s section of the Quebec Volleyball Federation, which trained future volleyball coaches.
Vladimir also coached several newcomers to Rawdon in volleyball, playing friendly games between ethnic groups.
Vladimir Boldireff met his future wife at a friendly volleyball game between Russian and Polish players from Rawdon on the grounds of the former Look Out Park Hotel in the Domaine Pontbriand Sud. There, he met a Polish woman named Marie (Marushka) Czetwertynski who was of royal descent. About two months later, they got married and went on to have four children: Alexandra, Yuri, Vladimir Jr. and Gregory. They would come to Rawdon for summer vacations, staying in a small house (dacha) that Vladimir had built on Ashland Street in Rawdon. They subsequently built a large house on the same site, where they lived, especially after they retired. Mr. Boldireff mentioned to us that, after 1960, there were much fewer Russians in Rawdon.
Excerpt concerning the long-standing animosity between the Russian and Polish people: The emigrants who came to Canada did so to find a land of refuge. They had really lost everything where they came from. So had we. Regardless, they were all emigrants who had lost everything. They argued less.
Russians in Rawdon
Among the Russians from the first and second waves of immigration who lived in Rawdon, either in the summer or when they retired, there was Mr. Orloff, who was a veteran of the First World War and a shipowner. He had a dacha in Rawdon. There was also Mr. Kamaroff, who, in the early 1950s, had purchased all the lots from 13th Avenue on the northwest side of Queen Street up to the coulee called Rowan (deep ravine at the end of 17th Avenue). A certain Mrs. Jacob owned a house across from Mr. Tourangeau’s house (which was about where 11th Avenue meets 12th Avenue), where there is now a small park with mailboxes [EN: Philip-Tinkler Park]. Mrs. Jacob rented rooms to Russians in the summer, and Mr. Ross Lawes (2) was one of the boarders. He was not Russian, but he was involved in organizing certain Russian events in Rawdon, which will be discussed later in the text. On 13th Avenue, there was a certain Mrs. Petroffsky, a widow whose husband had been a priest in Montréal before the arrival of Father Oleg.
Mr. Skotetsky, an important figure, was an engineer by training and was involved in the construction of the first Champlain Bridge. He was also involved in the construction of Métropolitain Boulevard in Montréal. He would come to Rawdon in the summer and stayed there when he retired. He was a Russian cadet as well as a member of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, the other division of the Russian Orthodox Church established in Canada, also called Our Lady of Kazan. A Russian cadet corps was an elite residential military secondary school, and the students who graduated went directly to institutes of higher education. They all had bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate degrees. There was such a cadet corps in Rostov-on-Don, in Russia, from which Father Oleg Boldireff had graduated. During the Bolshevik Revolution, the cadet schools left Russia to establish themselves in Europe, in countries such as Yugoslavia and Bulgaria, and also in Egypt. In Rawdon, our Lady of Kazan Church was originally in a house located on Vincent-Massey Road, between 6th Avenue (Route 348) and 1st Avenue (Route 337). It was destroyed in a fire, and a new church was built on Sunshine Street. Two other interesting figures were Georges and Marie Levtchouk who owned a house at the corner of Shakespeare Street and Pontbriand Boulevard. Georges helped Father Oleg build his chapel. He was also a Russian cadet.
He provided valuable help to the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. His wife, Marie Levtchouk, was very active; she was the president of the Centre d’Interprétation Multiethnique, on Metcalfe Street in Rawdon, and was a pastoral animation and choir director. As for Mr. Perevlostok (or Pereklostok), he was the world president of the Russian cadets. He lived in Rawdon in the summer and stayed there when he retired. Lastly, the Chiriaeffs had a small house across from the Boldireffs on 17th Avenue, and the two families were very close. Mr. Chiriaeff was an artist and contributed to the plans for Father Oleg’s chapel. As for Mrs. Ludmilla Chiriaeff, she was a ballet dancer and choreographer and founded Les Grands Ballets Canadiens. She received several honours, including Officer and Companion of the Order of Canada for her entire body of work. Today, she rests in the Rawdon’s Russian cemetery, and there is a bronze statue of Mrs. Chiriaeff on the lawn of Rawdon’s Centre d’Interprétation Multiethnique. A young man from Rawdon, Richard Rochon, who lived with his aunt, was friends with Avdé Chiriaeff, one of Ludmillla Chiriaeff’s sons, and he would visit them. He noticed Father Oleg’s small chapel across the street and was interested. Those were his first contacts with this religion, and today, he is the Archbishop of the Russian Orthodox Church in America, and he goes under the name of Irénée Rochon.
Russian events in Rawdon
Mr. Ross Lawes, a wealthy Englishman, once organized and funded a scout camp in Rawdon for young Russian scouts from the Saints Peter and Paul parish in Montréal. Vladimir Boldireff’s eldest brother attended this camp, which took place across from the temple of Jehovah’s Witnesses, now on 6th Avenue (Route 348). Mr. Ross Lawes had purchased this property.
Camps for Russian scouts from Montréal took place near Lac aux Sources. This lake had been created by Mr. Sakaroff, who had purchased many lots in the area surrounding Lac Fer à Cheval. He cleared many lots, and this lake was fed by natural springs. Lac aux Sources had to be crossed to get to Lac Fer à Cheval. Mr. Koatsky had purchased several lots before those of Lac aux Sources. On Route 337, past the ecumenical cemetery, there is a large hill. At the top of that hill is where Mr. Koatsky purchased several lots and where the Russian scout camp was held, lasting up to one month. There were also picnics held by members of the Saints Peter and Paul parish in the Domaine Pontbriand. These picnics began taking place in the 1930s, when the Domaine Pontbriand had a gravel road with grass growing in the middle. The last of these picnics took place during the last regatta held at the Domaine Pontbriand.
Vladimir Boldireff was 46 years old when he joined the Montréal Cossack Association. He explained to us that the Cossacks were originally warrior and nomadic people. They were Christian, democratic and free. They would elect their military leaders (atamans) at general assemblies. Peter the Great, Tsar of Russia in 1682, subjugated the Cossacks of the Don (river in Russia) and, for the next 200 years, they were at the service of the tsar. They served as an assault troop to defend the Russian borders against an enemy invasion (3). During the Bolshevik Revolution, more than half of them were massacred in Tyrol and Vienna.
The Montréal Cossack Association, which is one of the Cossack associations in North America, was created to commemorate Cossack customs and traditions. It is a non-political organization that was founded about 70 years ago and that celebrates four major events every year. In Montréal, on October 1st, the name of the founder of the Cossacks, Ataman Kaledin, 1st leader of the Cossacks who was elected after the Bolshevik Revolution, is commemorated. Also in Montréal, there was the largest of celebrations in honour of the Blessed Virgin, patroness of the Cossacks. On 1st of June, at Rawdon’s Russian cemetery, the thousands of Cossacks who perished in Tyrol in Austria are commemorated. A religious service would be celebrated, and a monument was erected next to the large rock in the Russian cemetery to honour their memory. The service would be followed by a picnic that would take place on a property close to Labrèche Road on Route 341, one of the last properties before Saint-Liguori. That property had previously belonged to Mr. Arbousoff.
Joint ceremony, Canadian Legion, Rawdon, Branch 198, and orthodox clergy, to commemorate the Russian soldiers in the Canadian army until 2013. Russian cemetery, Petrograd Street, Rawdon
The jubilee for the 60th anniversary of the Montréal Cossack Association was celebrated at the Collège Champagneur in Rawdon, from June 20 to 22, 2008 (the Cossack Fest). The mayor of Rawdon at the time, Louise Major, was invited to attend certain celebrations. Cossacks from across North America were invited to the festival. The celebrations began with a prayer, followed by speeches, and then a large choir sang the anthem of the brave Cossacks of the Don (river in Russia).
Russian choirs
On the feast of Saint Seraphim, on 1st of August (celebrated on the closest weekend), many parishioners from Montréal would come to Rawdon for this celebration, and a large choir would sing there. For the celebration of the feast of Our Lady of Kazan, on July 24th, there could be up to 200 people in attendance, and a large choir would sing there, as well. In fact, a choir sings at all religious services.It is said that, on two different occasions, a Russian choir came to sing at the Centre d’Interprétation Multiethnique, on Metcalfe Street in Rawdon.
Contribution to the arts
Ludmilla Chiriaeff’s first husband, Alexis, was a painter, and he made several paintings of nature scenes in Rawdon. In the Russian religion, in the churches, there is an iconostasis, called the Royal Doors, with icons depicting the evangelists, and, in Father Oleg Boldireff’s chapel, these were painted by Mr. Alexis Chiriaeff. They can be seen today at Rawdon’s Russian cemetery.
Mr. Gibson was a Russian speaker, as he had married a Russian woman, who was a painter. They lived next to Mr. Boreiko on 14th Avenue in Rawdon. Mr. Popov, a great master, was also a painter. Mr. Kartasoff was part of Rawdon’s circle of artists; he was friends with Mr. Olesko-Ferhorn, who did oil painting and, along with Denise Rowan, had founded Rawdon’s circle of artists.
Rawdon faience (earthenware)
As previously noted, Vladimir Boldireff was married to Marie Czetwertynski, a Polish woman. Russians liked to give nicknames, and the one for Marie was Marushka. When they lived in Montréal, André Zubeck, a Pol newly arrived in Montréal, had been welcomed by Marushka to live in their basement. He was a cabinetmaker, and he had taught Marushka the art of making furniture without nails, using dovetail joinery. Several pieces of furniture in their home had been built by Marushka. While they still lived in Montréal, she met a great French earthenware maker from Montréal who taught her the art of faience. When they moved to Rawdon, she continued to practise this art and developed her own technique. Later, Marushka held some small exhibitions of her works in Rawdon, and then in Joliette. She and her husband went on to request permission to exhibit works at the Salon des métiers d’art du Québec, and they held exhibitions there for several years. This became a family business, as Marushka would turn the pieces and Vladimir would clean them. Subsequently, the turning was contracted out, so that Marushka could focus on the glazes. She eventually became a member of the Conseil des métiers d’art du Québec. After having acquired regular clients, Marushka would then only make special orders. Several of her works can be seen below.
When we asked Mr. Vladimir Boldireff why Russians came to Rawdon, here's what he had to say:
Quote: Immigrants would come to Rawdon because there was the train, the properties were less expensive than in Saint-Sauveur and the nature looked like the landscape in Russia.
END
(1) Slavonic is an artificial language developed from Old Slavic and once used as a religious and literary language in Russia, Serbia and Bulgaria [translation of an excerpt from the Larousse Dictionnaire mondial des littératures].
(2 Article: “Parish Life. By Olga Lawes Melikoff (2007),” an article that was posted on the Internet in 2007. In the article, Mrs. Melikoff mentions that her father (Mr. Ross Lawes) was married to Ekaterina Semyonovna.
(3Article “You've been wrong about Cossacks this whole time” in Russia Beyond, an article written by Georgy Manaev, dated July 26, 2020.