Jacques Gagné

french-canadian, New France, Ontario, Quebec, Research tips, Resources Outside of Montreal, voyageur

The Fur Trade: A Wealth of Resources

June 16, 2019June 14, 2019 Jacques Gagné

Over the last few weeks, Genealogy Ensemble has posted a series of research guides on the merchants, ship owners and others who were involved in the lucrative fur trade based in New France. This week, I have put together a list of archives, web site addresses and other resources that you may want to consult as you dig deeper into your research on these merchants.

The first repositories on this list are Quebec’s provincial archives, la Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec. The links I have included will not only help you find the main archives in Montreal and Quebec City and other regional branches, but show you how to e-mail a question to an archivist.

Other archives with collections related to these merchants include Library and Archives Canada and various archives in France. I have written guides to several French archives in the past. See https://genealogyensemble.com/2018/10/21/researching-the-new-france-archives/ https://genealogyensemble.com/2019/01/27/the-national-archives-of-france/ https://genealogyensemble.com/2018/12/16/bnf-gallica/ and https://genealogyensemble.com/2018/05/13/researching-your-french-ancestors-online/.

To better understand the Canadian-based resources, see my posts https://genealogyensemble.com/2018/11/18/patrimoine-quebec-a-genealogical-library/ and https://genealogyensemble.com/2018/10/21/researching-the-new-france-archives/

Other resources on the list include university libraries and museums. I have also included links to various genealogy and history societies in North America and Europe. Several of these, such as the French-Canadian Heritage Society of Michigan, provide a great deal of background information on the fur trade era. Don’t forget that the merchants of New France were scattered from Acadia (in Canada’s eastern provinces) to Louisiana. Finally, I have included the names of several publishers and booksellers that could prove of interest.

Click here to see the list of repositories and publishers: Repositories of Documents Booksellers Publishers

This is the last post in the series. Previous articles in this series on the merchants, ship owners and fur traders of New France can be found at:

https://genealogyensemble.com/2019/05/05/the-merchants-ship-owners-and-fur-traders-of-new-france-part-1-a-g/

https://genealogyensemble.com/2019/05/10/the-merchants-and-fur-traders-of-new-france-part-2-h-to-z/

https://genealogyensemble.com/2019/05/26/the-trading-companies-of-new-france/

https://genealogyensemble.com/2019/06/02/french-seaports-and-new-france/

https://genealogyensemble.com/2019/06/09/books-and-articles-about-the-merchants-ship-owners-and-fur-traders-of-new-france/

France, french-canadian, New France, Quebec

Books and Articles about the Merchants, Ship Owners and Fur Traders of New France

June 9, 2019May 29, 2019 Jacques Gagné

Many books and articles have been written about the history of New France and the merchants who were involved in the fur trade there. If you discover one of your ancestors worked for a trading company, was a coureur de bois or owned ships that transported furs and goods across the Atlantic, these publications could be of interest to you.

To see the research guide to these publications, click here: The Authors

This is one of a series of posts on Genealogy Ensemble about the merchants, fur traders and ship owners of New France, the trading companies they were associated with and their ports of departure in France.

France, french-canadian, New France, Quebec

French Seaports and New France

June 2, 2019May 29, 2019 Jacques Gagné

During the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, the French competed with the British and Dutch for control of the fur trade in North America.

British merchants traded in Massachusetts and coastal New England from the 17th century until the American Revolution. The British also carried on trade in the Hudson River valley, and they controlled much of the trade out of Hudson’s Bay in the north.

Early on, Dutch merchants were in business in what is now the New York City area. Between about 1830 and 1842, the American Fur Company of New York City, owned by John Jacob Astor, monopolized the fur trade in the United States.

From the late 16th century until New France fell to the British in 1759, merchants from France, New France and Acadia (in today’s Maritime provinces) dominated the fur trade throughout a vast area. They were the leading fur trading merchants in the St. Lawrence River Valley, the Great Lakes region (Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin), the Missouri River Delta, the Mississippi River Delta and the Great West regions in present-day Canada and the American States bordering Canada. French merchants were also present in the Hudson Bay and James Bay regions of northern Quebec in the 17th century and early 18th century.

The French also exploited other resources, such as fish, in North American waters, and they supplied household goods to the farmers who settled in New France as well as goods to trade with the First Nations people.

The merchants who carried on this busy trade had operations at the ports of Quebec City, Montreal, Trois-Rivières, and Louisbourg in North America, and they were associated with fellow merchants at various port cities of France.

La Rochelle was one of the most important French ports for trade with New France, along with Bordeaux, Rouen and Caen. Saint-Malo was the home port of explorer Jacques Cartier, while Samuel de Champlain, recognized as the father of New France, was based at the port of Honfleur in Northern France. Other French port cities with connections to the new world included Brest, Calais, Cherbourg, Dieppe, Dunkerque, Fécamp, Le Havre, Lorient, Rochefort, Royan and Vannes, while a few ships sailed from Marseille in southern France.

The research guide attached below provides more information about these French ports. Some of the articles are in French, so if you have trouble following them, use an online translation tool such as Google Translate.

To access this research guide, click here: Ports of Departure

This is the fourth in a series of weekly posts about the merchants, fur traders and ship owners who did business with New France, from the time Jacques Cartier planted a French flag on the shores of the Gaspé in 1534 until the Treaty of Paris was signed in 1763 and New France became a British colony.

The series includes a pair of research guides focused on the individual fur traders, ship owners and private bankers involved in trade between France and New France. See https://genealogyensemble.com/2019/05/05/the-merchants-ship-owners-and-fur-traders-of-new-france-part-1-a-g/ and https://genealogyensemble.com/2019/05/10/the-merchants-and-fur-traders-of-new-france-part-2-h-to-z/

A research guide to the trading companies these merchants were associated with can be found at https://genealogyensemble.com/2019/05/26/the-trading-companies-of-new-france/

Next week I will post a list of authors and researchers who have written about this period, including links to some of their publications.

Aboriginals, France, french-canadian, New France, Quebec, voyageur

The Trading Companies of New France

May 26, 2019May 22, 2019 Jacques Gagné

The fur trade between the First Nations people of North America and the Europeans was central to the history of Canada and the United States. The commerce in furs made fortunes, it changed the lives of the First Nations people forever, it encouraged the French to explore deep into the interior of the continent, and it gave work to hundreds of people.

The names of some of the companies that controlled the trade in beaver pelts are still remembered today. The early trading companies that operated as monopolies in the days of New France included the Compagnie des Cent-Associés (Company of One Hundred Associates), 1627-1645, and the Compagnie francaise des Indes occidentales (French West India Company), 1664-1674. Later, the North West Company, 1789-1821, and the Hudson’s Bay Company, 1670-1870s, competed for dominance.

The Company of One Hundred Associates was created in Paris in 1627 by Armand Jean Duplessis, better known as Cardinal Richelieu. Among the leading members of this trading company were explorers, fur traders, merchants, ship owners, bankers, governors of New France and Acadia. They included Samuel de Champlain, Martin Anceaume, Thomas Bonneau, Jacques Bulteau, Henry Cavelier, Antoine Cheffault, Sébastien Cramoisy. Charles Daniel, Jean David, Jacques Duhamel, Arnault Dumas, Thibault Dumas, Jean Guenet, Charles Huault, Pierre de La Haye, Gabriel Lattaignant, Claude de Launay-Razilly, Jean de Lauzon, Simon Lemaistre, Raoul L’Huillier, François de Magny, Adam Mannessier, Georges Morin, François Mouet, Antoine Nozereau, Jean Papavoine, Claude Potel, Guillaume Prévost, Isaac de Razilly, Claude de Roquemont, Jean Rozé, Charles de Saint-Étienne de La Tour, Jean Taffet and André Terru.

Perhaps your ancestor owned or helped to run one of these trading companies. Perhaps he was a coureur de bois who traveled by canoe into the interior of the continent to trade with the indigenous people, and perhaps he married an indigenous woman. Whatever your interest, the attached compilation can help you better understand the roles these companies may have played in your ancestor‘s life.

Click here: Trading Companies

Next week’s post will cover the ports of departure in France associated with the merchants who traded with New France. Following that, I will look at authors who have written about this period and archives where you can find more information.

The Merchants and Fur Traders of New France, part 2, H to Z

May 10, 2019 Jacques Gagné

In the days of New France and Acadia, a merchant, fur trader, private banker or ship owner was sometimes called a négociant, or dealer. Some négociants were based in Canada, but most had their headquarters in France, especially in La Rochelle, Bordeaux, Rouen and Caen. Other French port cities with connections to the new world included Brest, Calais, Cherbourg, Dieppe, Dunkerque, Fécamp, Le Havre, Lorient, Rochefort, Royan, Saint-Malo and Vannes, while a few ships sailed from Marseille in southern France.

Rich merchants from La Rochelle, Bordeaux, Caen and Rouen often sent young family members to the French colonies of New France, Acadia and Louisiana to manage their North American investments.

Most such dealers, especially those who settled in New France and Acadia, were Catholics. Some were Protestants (Huguenots or Calvinists) and a few from the city of Bordeaux were Jewish. Following the 1759 British conquest of New France, the number of Huguenot merchants increased slightly, at least in Montreal and Quebec City.

These négociants were the people who opened communications between Europe and ports located in the American colonies. Many of the French traders also dealt with associates in South America, Africa, the Middle East and the Far East.

Hundreds of dealers were in business over the approximately 250 years that New France existed. In the compilation attached below, I have only selected a fraction of them, addressing primarily the French traders who dealt directly with family members or associates in New France, Acadia or Louisiana. In regard to the fur traders, I have tried to identify those who had a place of business in Montreal, Trois-Rivières, Quebec City or Louisbourg. I have also included a few well-known explorers who were associated with merchants in these four towns.

Many of the French traders who were associated with Quebec, Louisiana or the Great Lakes regions are profiled in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography. If your ancestor was a fur trader, banker or ship owner, you may find a great deal about his life in this publication, available online or in many libraries. See http://www.biographi.ca/en/index.php or http://www.biographi.ca/fr/index.php for the French-language edition.

This post is the second in a series of compilations focused on these négociants during the period of colonial New France in the 16^th, 17^th and 18^th centuries. The series will include brief biographies of these merchants, background on the French port cities where they were based, information about the trading companies they were associated with, the names of historians and other researchers who have written about this people, and a list of archives where you can obtain further information.

To see last week’s post introducing the merchants, fur traders, private bankers and ship owners of New France with last names beginning A to G, go to https://genealogyensemble.com/2019/05/05/the-merchants-ship-owners-and-fur-traders-of-new-france-part-1-a-g/

To read this week’s compilation on the merchants, fur traders, private bankers and ship owners of New France and Acadia with last names beginning H to Z, click on this link: Merchants, Fur Traders and Ship Owners of New France, H-Z Merchants, Fur Traders and Ship Owners of New France, H-Z

France, Genealogy, New France, Quebec

The Merchants, Ship Owners and Fur Traders of New France, Part 1, A – G

May 5, 2019May 2, 2019 Jacques Gagné

There are a couple of versions of this story: in 1539, someone told the King of France that explorer Jacques Cartier had found gold and silver along the shores of the Saguenay River. Another source says that Cartier had only suggested there might be gold and silver in the Saguenay region. (It turned out to be fool’s gold.)

According to both sources, however, Cartier suggested that trading beaver pelts and other wild animal furs could become a great source of income for the king. Needless to say, the fur trade turned out to be a lucrative business that lasted for almost 250 years.

Eventually, many types of traders established operations at the ports of Quebec City, Montreal, Trois-Rivières, and Louisbourg. All these merchants were associated with fellow merchants at various port cities of France, including La Rochelle, Bordeaux, Rouen and Caen. And in the days of Louis de Buade, Count of Frontenac and Governor of New France between 1672-1682 and 1689-1698, merchants in New France and its territories held a special place among the elite of the French colony.

Some of these traders married in North America, or brought their wives and children with them. They became the ancestors of many French Canadian or Acadian families, but, as of today, few family history researchers have searched for these early merchants, traders, private bankers, ship owners or tannery operators.

If you think you might have merchant ancestors, and you enjoy research online in France and Canada, try searching for the following term: Name of Ancestor (family name only, négociant du 17ème et 18ème siècles en France et Nouvelle-France. You can also try replacing Nouvelle-France with Acadie. This may bring you surprising search results.

First, however, you must determine on the spelling of the family name in France in the 16th, 17^th and 18th centuries. For example, my Gagné brothers who settled Château-Richer near Quebec City in the 17th century were Gasnier in France – same pronunciation, different spelling.

This is the first in a series of weekly posts about these merchants, fur traders and ship owners during the period of Colonial New France (until around 1760.) It will include:

two compilations including very brief biographies of these merchants and usually including their wives’ names;

links to information about the port cities in France with which they traded;

links to information about the trading companies they were associated with;

a list of authors, historians and academic researchers who have studied this period, with links to some of their publications;

a list of the archives and other repositories where you can learn more about this subject.

Click on the link to read Merchants, Ship Owners and Fur Traders A-G

Genealogy, Quebec

Popular Early Notaries in Quebec

April 28, 2019April 27, 2019 Jacques Gagné

If you are looking for the notaries who prepared documents such as leases, wills and business agreements for your ancestors, the best place to start might be the notaries with the biggest practices. The notaries listed below are the notaries with the largest clientele in New France & Quebec under the British.

I have reviewed 551 notaries and I have selected, by judicial districts, the notaries with the largest number of notarial acts (minutiers) written.

The notarial acts of the notaries listed below are available on microfilm at the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ) in old Montreal, or the BAnQ in Quebec City, or branches of the BAnQ in Sherbrooke, Gatineau or Trois-Rivières. Check before you visit. Meanwhile, more and more acts are being digitized and can be found online on the BAnQ’s website, on Familysearch.org or on Ancestry.ca.

Their clients were varied. Prior to 1760, they included primarily French Canadian and Acadian families. After the British Conquest, they included French Canadians and British, Scottish, Irish families and soldiers, Americans, Loyalists, Germanic soldiers and their families, Dutch Loyalists and Scandinavians & Baltic States immigrants.

Montreal Judicial District

>> Antoine Adhémar dit Saint-Martin 1677-1714 – 13 microfilms

>> Michel Lepailleur & François Lepailleur dit LaFerté – 1700-1739 – 14 microfilms

>> Jean-Baptiste Adhémar dit Saint-Martin – 1714-1754 – 10 microfilms

>> Charles-François Coron – 1734-1767 – 10 microfilms

>> Simon Sanguinet Senior & Junior – 1734-1786 – 13 microfilms

>> François Simonnet – 1737-1778 – 12 microfilms

>> Antoine Foucher – 1746-1800 – 13 microfilms

>> Jean-Baptiste Daguilhe – 1749-1783 – 10 microfilms

>> Joseph Lalanne & Pierre Lalanne – 1752-1792 – 12 microfilms

>> Pierre de Méru Panet & Pierre-Louis Panet – 1755-1783 – 10 microfilms –

>> François Leguay Senior & Junior – 1770-1807 – 10 microfilms

>> Edward William Gray & Jonathan Abraham Gray – 1777-1812 – 12 microfilms

>> Joseph Papineau – 1780-1841 – 11 microfilms

>> Edme Henry – 1783-1831 – 10 microfilms

>> Louis Chaboillez – 1787-18213 – 21 microfilms

>> Peter Lukin Senior & Junior – 1790-1837 – 10 microfilms

>> Jean Mondelet – 1794-1842 – 11 microfilms

>> Pierre Lanctot – 1809-1850 – 12 microfilms

Quebec City Judicial District

>> Gilles Rageot & François Rageot & Charles Rageot – 1666-1753 – 10 microfilms

>> Edme Jacob, Étienne Jacob, Joseph Jacob – 1680-1750 – 12 microfilms

>> Louis Chamballon – 1692-1716 – 15 microfilms

>> André Genest 1738-1783 – 13 microfilms

>> Jean Antoine Panet & & Jean-Baptiste Panet & Jean-Claude Panet – 1744-1783 – 20 microfilms

>> Antoine Crespin – 1748-1782 – 12 microfilms

>> Charles Voyer & Jacques Voyer – 1787-1842 – 14 microfilms

>> François-Xavier Larue Senior & Junior – 1788-1865 – 17 microfilms

>> Roger Lelièvre – 1793-1847 – 27 microfilms

>> Barthélemy Faribault – 1796-1821 – 23 microfilms

>> Louis Guay – 1806-1843 – 12 microfilms

Trois-Rivières Judicial District

>> Jean-Baptiste Badeau – 1765-1796 – 12 microfilms

>> Antoine Gagnon – 1792-1824 – 12 microfilms

>> Joseph Badeau – 1798-1835 – 21 microofilms

Richelieu Judicial District (Richelieu River Valley)

>> Henry Crebassa – Richelieu – 1795-1843 – 16 microfilms

Beauce Judicial District

>> John Walsh – 1803-1845 – 10 microfilms

>> Jean-Baptiste Bonneville – 1819-1871 – 12 microfilms

>> Jean-Olivier Arcand – 1832-1868 – 16 microfilms

Iberville Judicial District (Richelieu River Valley)

>> François Médard Pétrimoux – 1798-1849 – 13 microfilms

>> Louis Decoigne Senior & Junior – 1807-1857 – 15 microfilms

>> Laurent Archambault – 1820-1859 – 13 microfilms

Montmagny Judicial District (Lower St. Lawrence)

>> Nicolas-Charles–Louis Lévesque – 1752-1795 – 10 microfilms

>> Augustin Larue & Abraham Larue – 1804-1847 – 20 microfilms

Kamourasksa Judicial District (Lower St. Lawrence)

>> Louis Cazes – 1780-1798 – 10 microfilms

>> Augustin Dionne – 1797-1821 – 12 microfilms

Beauharnois Judicial District – (North of New York State)

Louis Sarault – 1805-1861 – 11 microfilms

Godfroi Chagnon – 1825-1862 – 11 microfilms

St. Hyacinthe Judicial District

>> Pierre-Paul Dutalmé – 1798-1821 – 10 microfilms

Charlevoix (St. Lawrence’s North Shore)

>> Charles-Pierre Huot – 1817 -1865 – 11 microfilms

Joliette Judicial District

>> Louis Raymond – 1796-1829 – 14 microfilms

Genealogy, New France, Quebec, Research tips

Royal Notaries of New France and in Quebec under the British

April 21, 2019April 20, 2019 Jacques Gagné

For family researchers looking for ancestors in Quebec, notarial acts are much more than marriage contracts or wills. A notarial act can offer a detailed overview of all the members of a particular family through documents such as notarized after-death inventories.

In order to pinpoint where and when an ancestor settled within a particular region of Quebec, notarized land grants and land purchases, sales and leases can provide family lineage researchers with answers to their research stumbling blocks.

If your ancestor was a business person, notarial acts can describe the types of business activities your ancestor carried on, and the names of his partners or competitors.

All types of transactions that seigneurs carried on with their tenants in New France, between 1612 to 1760, and under British rule, from 1760 to 1854, were recorded by notaries. These records are a must for those with ancestors in rural districts of New France and British Quebec up to 1854.

In order to find the notarial documents relevant to your family’s activities, you first need to know the name of the notary who prepared these documents. Unless the notary’s acts have been digitized, you will need to scroll through his index to find the dates and act numbers so you can find the documents themselves.

In New France, there were three types of notaries: public notaries, also referred to as regular notaries; seigneurial notaries, appointed by the owners of vast territories called seigneuries; and royal notaries. In most cases, royal notaries were well-educated individuals who were considered to be of high integrity, and to have exemplary behaviour in family relationships and with business associates.

This is the group of notaries we wish to introduce to family history researchers in Canada and in the United States.

Royal notaries were appointed by representatives of the French Crown in New France, known as indendants. An intendant was an administrator appointed by either Louis XIII, Louis XIV or Louis XV, kings of France from 1621 to 1760, and by the kings of England during the reigns of George III and George IV.

The French intendants who appointed royal notaries were Louis Robert (1663-1665), Jean Talon (1665-1668 & 1670-1672), Jacques Duchesneau (1675-1682), Jacques de Meules (1682-1686), Jean de Champigny (1686-1702), François de Beauharnais (1702-1705), Jacques Rondot (1705-1711), Michel Bégon (1712-1726), Claude Thomas Dupuy (1726-1728), Gilles Hocquart (1731-1748) and François Bigot (1748-1760).

Following the British conquest of 1759 at the Plains of Abraham in Quebec, the authorities who appointed royal notaries in British Quebec were: Governor James Murray (1760-1768), Lieutenant Governor in Montreal Thomas Gage (1760-1763), Lieutenant Governor in Trois-Rivières Ralph Burton (1760-1766 and 1763-1766 in Montreal), Governor Guy Carleton (1768-1770 & 1774-1778 & 1786-1796), Lieutenant Governor Hector de Cramahé (1770-1774) and Governor Frederick Haldimand (1778-1784).

One of the best experts on royal notaries was André Vachon, a university professor, author and archivist. Born in Quebec City in 1933, he was archivist at the Archives de la Province de Québec (the precursor of the Archives nationales du Québec) from 1956 to 1961. For nine years, he was a professor at Université Laval and Université de Sherbrooke, and from 1971 to 1976, he was curator at the Archives nationales du Québec. He was also historian and managing director of Les Presses de l’Université Laval.

From 1967 onward, Vachon wrote 15 books, one of which should be considered of exceptional value to family lineage researchers. It is called L’Histoire du Notariat Canadien (The history of the Notaries in Canada)

In addition, Vachon contributed a series of excellent articles that were published over many years by the Revue d’histoire de l’Amérique française. These are available online through Erudit, the largest French-language research platform in North America. Many of his texts addressed the subject of notaries in New France from 1621 to 1759, as well as notaries under the British regime.

For more details on Vachon’s career and the Andre Vachon Fonds at the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec, see http://pistard.banq.qc.ca/unite_chercheurs/description_fonds?p_anqsid=201402101331371539&p_centre=03Q&p_classe=P&p_fonds=840&p_numunide=835866

The following articles, researched and compiled by Vachon and his associates, describe most of the royal notaries of New France and those who served as royal notaries under the British regime in Québec.

https://www.erudit.org/revue/haf/1955/v9/n3/301728ar.pdf

https://www.erudit.org/revue/haf/1956/v9/n4/301791ar.pdf

https://www.erudit.org/revue/haf/1957/v11/n1/301806ar.pdf

https://www.erudit.org/revue/cd/2013/v54/n1/1014289ar.pdf

https://www.erudit.org/revue/haf/1957/v11/n2/301835ar.pdf

https://www.erudit.org/revue/haf/1957/v11/n1/301806ar.pdf

If you want to find out which notaries served your ancestors in Quebec, the websites of Parchemin (Archiv-Histo) and of the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ) are the best places to look. These sites list notaries who were described as royal notaries or as public notaries (regular notaries) or as seigniorial notaries.

Archiv-Histo (Parchemin) (https://archiv-histo.com/assets/publications/2015-Notaires-liste-Chrono-Tablo.pdf ) provides a research tool on the notaries who served in New France. There were 206 notaries working in New France from 1634 to 1759, and 2,086 notaries served in Quebec from 1760 to 1899.

Bibliothèque Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ) (http://bibnum2.banq.qc.ca/bna/notaires/) offers readers a tool to research notaries by regions of Québec who served during the 19^th century and a few within the 18^th century in all regions of Quebec. These regions can be found on the left side of the front page under the heading of Par region.

These regions were:

>> Montreal Region

Island of Montreal plus Saint-Hyacinthe – Richelieu River Valley – Iberville – Joliette – Terrebonne – Beauharnois – Longueil – Laval – Labelle – Bedford

>> Quebec City Region

City of Québec plus Montmagny – Saguenay – Beauce

>> Central Region of Quebec (Mauricie et Centre du Québec)

City of Trois-Rivières plus Arthabaska County – Drummond County – St. Maurice County

>> Eastern Townships (Estrie)

City of Sherbrooke plus St. Francis Judicial District (Sherbrooke, Stanstead, Richmond, Compton, Wolfe Counties) – Bedford Judicial District (Missisquoi, Brome, Shefford,Counties plus the Upper Richelieu River Valley (Missisquoi Bay)) – Megantic County

>> Western Quebec (Outaouais)

District of Hull-Gatineau plus Gatineau County – Pontiac County – Labelle County – Papineau County under Hull-Gatineau District

>> Lower St. Lawrence (Bas-Saint-Laurent)

Regions of Rimouski and Rivière-du-Loup plus Kamouraska District, Gaspé County, Bonaventure County

>> Saguenay – Lac-St-Jean

Regions of Chicoutimi (Saguenay today) plus Roberval, Alma

>> North Western Quebec (Abitibi-Témiscamingue-Nord-du-Québec)

Abitibi County, Témiscamingue County

>> St. Lawrence Lower & Upper North Shores

Baie-Comeau & Sept-Iles regions from Tadoussac to the Labrador Border along the north shore of the St. Lawrence River

Please note: All articles by André Vachon and his associates on the Érudit site, as well as the content of Parchemin (Archiv-Histo) and of the BAnQ are in the French language only. Try using Google Translate, or another online translation service.

See also:

Jacques Gagné, “Finding Quebec’s Early Notarial Records,” Genealogy Ensemble, Jan.1, 2017, https://genealogyensemble.com/2017/01/01/finding-quebecs-early-notarial-records/

Jacques Gagné, “Notaries of Lower Canada, 1760-1848,” Genealogy Ensemble, April 29, 2018, https://genealogyensemble.com/2018/04/29/notaries-of-lower-canada-1760-1848/

Compiled by Jacques Gagné

gagne.jacques@sympatico.ca

Genealogy

Irish Catholic Churches of Rural Quebec: Beauce, Bellechasse, Dorchester, Lévis, Lotbinière Counties

April 14, 2019April 11, 2019 Jacques Gagné

This is the seventh in a series of research guides to Irish Catholic churches in Quebec posted on Genealogy Ensemble over the past several months. This guide is designed to help you find the churches where Irish Catholics were baptized, married and buried in the region that is between the St. Lawrence River and the border of Maine.

When tens of thousands of Irish immigrants flooded into Lower Canada (Quebec) in the 19^th century, they settled on farms and in cities everywhere. Most of them were Catholic; Irish Protestant immigrants usually settled in Upper Canada and other English-speaking regions of North America.

Please note: The term Irish Catholic churches does not imply within this research guide that parishioners were mostly of Irish descent. I mean that, at one point in time, a minimum of 10% of the acts of baptism, marriage and death addressed Irish immigrants or their descendants.

The earliest church record I was able to trace in regard to the Irish in this region was in 1794 in the parish of Saint-Joseph, in what was then the village of Lévis.

Region of Chaudìère-Appalaches

chaudiere appalaches The modern region of Chaudière-Appalaches comprises the former counties of Beauce, Bellechasse, Devon, Dorchester, Frontenac, Hertford, Lévis, L’Islet, Lotbinière, Mégantic, Montmagny. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_districts_of_Lower_Canada

Within this research guide, I have addressed the parishes situated in all of these former counties, with the exception of L’Islet and Montmagny. I will address them in a future compilation on Irish parishes of the Lower St. Lawrence.

In the counties of L’Islet and Montmagny, the Scottish Catholic presence might have been greater than the Irish Catholic presence during the 18^th and 19^th centuries.

The Irish, Scottish and French Catholic families in this region lived in harmony during the 19^th century. However, the few Irish Protestant families from Northern Ireland who settled in this region had difficult moments with the Irish, Scottish and French families of the Catholic faith, so some of them moved to Mégantic County during this period.

The county of Bellechasse was created between 1829 to 1838 by the British authorities from a former seigneury of the same name that existed under the French regime. Dorchester County, next to Bellechasse, was created by the British between 1792 and 1829. Some of the villages and churches of these neighbouring counties are sometimes found with two names. For example, Sainte-Claire-de-Bellechase and Sainte-Claire-de-Dorchester are the same parish in the village of Sainte-Claire de Bellechasse. Other villages and parishes are similarly named Dorchester and/or Bellechasse.

Similar situations can be found in Dorchester and Lotbinière counties. The villages and churches did not move, the boundaries changed in the 19^th century.

See the listing of towns, villages, cities within Chaudière-Appalaches.

See also my post on Genealogy Ensemble of June 24, 2018, “The Seigneuries of Beauce, Lotbiniere, Dorchester and Bellechasse.” It explores the area during the French colonial period and the British period. https://genealogyensemble.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/the_seigneuries-of-beauce-lotbiniere-dorchester-and-bellechasse.pdf

The PDF research guide linked below includes a list of Catholic parishes in the region, links to the region’s cemeteries, a list of recommended reading and links to archives and online resources that could be useful to researchers.

Irish Catholic Churches – Counties of Lévis – Lotbinière – Dorchester – Beauce – Bellechasse

Genealogy, Immigration, Ireland, Quebec

Grosse Île and the Irish

April 7, 2019 Jacques Gagné

Thousands of Irish immigrants came to Canada, especially in the 1800s. They came by ship, travelling up the St. Lawrence River to Quebec City, but many got sick and some died during the long voyage across the Atlantic.

After a cholera epidemic swept England in 1831, a quarantine station was built on Grosse ÎIe, an island in the St. Lawrence downriver from Quebec City. All ships were required to stop there so passengers could be checked by doctors to ensure they were not sick. Government authorities did not want people to bring disease to the busy port cities of Quebec City and Montreal.

The worst years were between 1845 and 1849, when the terrible potato famine hit Ireland. Many of those who fled Ireland, optimistic about starting new lives in North America, never made it. Most of them succumbed to typhus, a disease caused by bacteria carried by fleas and lice. More than 7,000 people are buried in three large cemeteries on Grosse Île.

The quarantine station continued from 1832 until 1937. Today, Parks Canada runs Grosse Île and the Irish Memorial National Historic Site. This moving historic site, including several buildings and cemeteries, is open to visitors from the beginning of May until mid-October. See https://www.pc.gc.ca/en/lhn-nhs/qc/grosseile/index.

There are a number of books about this place and the tragic events that happened there. One of the most moving volumes I have read is Eyewitness, Grosse Isle, 1847 (note the alternative spelling), by Marianna O’Gallagher & Rose Masson Dompierre, published in 1995 by Livres Carraig Books of Ste-Foy, Québec. You may be able to find it in a library or online.

This superb book begins with a map of Ireland indicating the places that sent 10 or more ships to Quebec in 1847 with Irish immigrants: 53 ships from Limerick, 33 from Cork, 32 from Belfast, 27 from Dublin, 27 from Sligo and 18 from Londonderry.

The authors got the idea for this book after reading letters that the chaplains of the quarantine station wrote to their superiors during the summer of 1847. The authors wrote, “In order to present a full portrait of the dramatic events that unfolded at Grosse Isle, and in order to distinguish between myth and reality, this book will be the forum where eyewitnesses speak. The priests’ letters, little known until today, but which are very significant, contain descriptions of everyday occurrences, prevailing conditions at ‘the Quarantine’ in 1847. The situation proved to be dramatic and arduous, and the missionaries, faced with the spiritual and physical needs of the immigrants, felt powerless and besieged. Very soon their letters elicited response from many quarters.”

For example, Rev. Armine W. Mountain, Church of England, Acting Chaplain Quarantine Station, wrote:

Buried: Meek, Catherine, daughter of James Meek, mason, late of the parish of Whiteburn, County Linlithgow, Scotland, and of France, by her maiden name Somerville, his wife, aged two years, died on the twenty-second and was buried on the twenty-fourth day of May in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, by me – Armine W. Mountain – Present: Robert Armstrong, Joh X. Armstrong.

Rev. Charles Morice, Catholic Priest, Officiating Chaplain Grosse Isle, wrote:

Buried: Heatherington, Taylor, Craig, White, McCray, McCray, Smyth

Hugh Heatherington, aged forty, from Ship Dykes

Margaret Taylor, aged twenty three per ship Maria Soames

Elizabeth White, age sixty-three from ship Emigrant

Margaret McKay, age forty two years per ship Eliza

Alexander McKay, age fifty-two per ship Eliza

Robert Smyth, age two years per Sir Henry Pottinger died sixth October. All died, except the last, on the seventh of October and were buried on the evening of the same day in the year of our Lord one thousand Eight hundred and forty-seven by me – Charles Morice – Present: John Fitzgerald, Patrick Dolan

https://www.amazon.ca/Eyewitness-Grosse-Isle-Marianna-OGallagher/dp/096908059X

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