Ralph Merry V (1809-1887)

Ralph Merry V was born at the Outlet in 1809. Grandson of the pioneer and founder of Magog, Ralph Merry III, Ralph V was, himself, one of the most important personalities in the history of Magog. Here are a few of his major accomplishments: In 1837, he founded the first company in Lower Canada to manufacture matches, active until its destruction by fire in 1855. In 1856, he was one of the main promoters of the Magog Academy. He was also Mayor of Magog from 1870 to 1877 and from 1881 to 1884.

Last, but not least, he was the main person responsible for bringing the railroad to Magog. He, along with others, worked on this project from 1851 to 1877, that is, until the inauguration of the Waterloo-Magog junction. Consequently, Ralph Merry V was at the origins of the most important transformation known to Magog since it was the arrival of the train, as geographer John Derek Booth notes, that enabled Magog to go from an isolated hamlet to a manufacturing centre.
[1].

[1] See for the matchs company, Maurice Langlois et Serge Gaudreau, Magog en mots et en images: 50 événements marquants de son histoire, Magog, les auteurs, 2018, p. 37 to 41. For a biography of Ralph Merry V, see Maurice Langlois, Les Merry de Magog: notes historiques, Sherbrooke, l’auteur, 2003, p. 72 to 95; regarding the Waterloo-Magog railroad, see John Derek Booth, Railways of Southern Quebec, volume II, Toronto, Railfare Enterprises Limited, 1985, p. 9 to 74.