1653-4
THE SECOND FOUNDATION OF MONTREAL
THE GREAT REINFORCEMENT OF 1653
MAISONNEUVE RETURNS WITH A RELIEF FORCE--THE MONTREAL CONTINGENT
THE SAVIOURS OF CANADA--THE ORIGIN AND TRADES OF THE NEW
COLONISTS--MARGUERITE BOURGEOYS, THE FIRST SCHOOLMISTRESS,
ARRIVES--HER CALL--SHIP FEVER--ARRIVAL AT QUEBEC--THE GOVERNOR
OF QUEBEC WOULD RETAIN THE RELIEF CONTINGENT--MAISONNEUVE
FIRM FOR MONTREAL--THE WORK OF CONSOLIDATING THE ENLARGED
COLONY AT VILLE MARIE--BUILDING ACTIVITIES--AGRICULTURAL AND
INDUSTRIAL OCCUPATIONS--MARRIAGE CONTRACTS--JEANNE MANCE AND
MARGUERITE BOURGEOYS, THE MOTHERS OF THE SETTLEMENT--THE KNIGHTLY
MAISONNEUVE, A "_Chevalier sans reproche_"--THE MILITARY
CONFRATERNITY--THE MOUNTAIN CROSS REPLACED--MEDICAL CONTRACTS--THE
GOVERNMENT OF MONTREAL--THE ELECTION OF A SYNDIC--THE "NEW"
CEMETERY--THE NEW "PARISH" CHURCH--THE MARRIAGE OF CHARLES LE
MOYNE WITH CATHERINE PRIMOT--A RARE SCANDAL--THE PRIMITIVE FERVOUR
STILL MAINTAINED.
The arrival of M. de Maisonneuve's expedition was eagerly awaited by
the whole French colony of Canada. For the addition of newcomers, men
able to bear arms, meant more resources against the common enemy, and
consequently surer stability for the whole French population.
The picture presented at this period of war is distressing. Montreal
was a besieged fortress; Three Rivers similarly, and the Town of Quebec
was described, on the arrival of de Maisonneuve, as only holding five
or six houses in Upper Town, while in the Lower there were only the
storehouses of the Jesuits and that of Montreal. The "Relation" of 1653
says "that the store of Montreal has not bought a single beaver skin
for a year. At Three Rivers, the little sold has gone to strengthen
the fortifications. At Quebec, there is only poverty." Thus there was
extreme discontent through inability to pay private debts or those due
to the government for the upkeep of the colony, which by the cession
of the trading rights to the people now devolved upon them and not on
the great Company. Thus they looked for a continuation of the peace
just declared and a return to trade. It was hoped that Maisonneuve's
contingent would make for both. Consequently it was with great joy and
a solemn _Te Deum_ in the church that its arrival at Quebec was hailed
on September 22nd. The governor of Montreal and his new colonists were
the saviours of the country!
We may now briefly relate the history of the organization of this
relief force. When de Maisonneuve had made sure of the necessary funds,
he proceeded with M. de la Dauversière, the procurator of the Company
of Montreal, to gather the right men. They must be young, brave, have
a trade, be of irreproachable morals, and able to bear arms; in other
words, be ready to help to found and organize a settlement, and put up
with the variety of trying difficulties incidental to such a dangerous
pioneering outpost. These men were hired for the work, and they
guaranteed their services to the Company for five years at Montreal,
on the condition of being fed and lodged, in addition to wages paid
them, besides being provided with tools, etc., for the exercise of
their callings. After the five years expired, they might return to
France at the expense of the Company. These were recruited from
Picardy, Champagne, Normandy, L'Ile de France, Touraine, Burgundy, but
principally from Maine and Anjou, and especially from the neighbourhood
of La Flèche, the home of M. de la Dauversière.
We are able to locate the origin and point out the profession of
nearly each one of those coming with Maisonneuve's force, since we
have the old original acts of Notary Lafousse, of La Flèche, giving
the contracts between 118 of the men and the agents of the Company
of Montreal, signed during the course of March, April and May of
1653. There were 38 others who signed in other places, making the
total, according to Faillon, of 154, all able to bear arms. Of these,
some deserted, some died on the passage out, and, according to M. de
Belmont, only 105 reached Montreal.[70] But these were all picked men
and chosen with care; there were three surgeons, three millers, two
bakers, a brewer, a cooper, a coppersmith, a pastry cook, four weavers,
a tailor, a hatter, three shoemakers, a maker of sabots, a cutler, two
armourers, three masons, a stonecutter, four tilers, nine carpenters,
two joiners, an edgetool maker, a nail maker, a saw maker, a paviour,
two gardeners, a farrier, sixty tillers or labourers for cultivating
the soil, of whom several were sawyers, etc.
The absence of womankind is noticeable in this list, but a few ladies
were provided for the settlement in this way. Before the day for the
departure, fixed for June 20, 1653, de Maisonneuve visited his sisters,
Madame de Chuly and la Soeur Louise de Ste. Marie, who both lived
at Troyes, the latter being a nun of the Congregation of Notre-Dame
there, to bid them adieu. It will be remembered that the good nuns of
Troyes were very anxious to emulate the example of the Ursulines of
Quebec by sending representatives of their order to Montreal to found
an establishment there. De Maisonneuve had promised to make use of
their offer of services, when the time should be ready, but no one who
has followed the story of the chequered days of the city so far, will
blame the governor of Montreal for still refusing to receive as yet a
cloistered nunnery in his beleaguered fort. But there happened to be
a young woman of thirty-three years of age then living with Madame de
Chuly at Troyes, a lay woman belonging to a pious association under the
direction of the Sisters of the Congregation, who had long heard of the
thrilling story of the doings at Ville Marie from Madame de Chuly and
the ladies of the convent. She had, indeed, communicated her idea to
de Maisonneuve's sister, of devoting herself to the work in Montreal,
so that Marguerite Bourgeoys, as was her name, had been promised to be
received into their institute when they should realize their project of
going to Canada.
It was then, in the convent _parloir_, that the good nuns introduced
this young person to de Maisonneuve, who doubtless asked her kindly,
gravely and courteously, if she dared brave the ocean and live in a
little settlement among rough soldiers and teach school to little
Indian children of the forests, and make Christians of them, and thus
do good work for God. Needless to say his offer was accepted. All
necessary permissions were granted,[71] but Marguerite momentarily
hesitated to give herself to the conduct of a strange gentleman whom
she had only met on this occasion.
"Fear not, my child," was the reply of her spiritual adviser, who knew
the integrity of the upright governor. "Put yourself in his hands as
into those of one of the first knights of the Queen of Angels. Go to
Ville Marie with all confidence."
Thus she arrived at St. Nazaire, the port of departure, near Nantes;
but to her great surprise and pleasure she found a small group of her
own sex to accompany her on the voyage--several young girls, and one or
two married women accompanying their husbands. The expedition started
on June 20th in the Saint Nicholas de Nantes, and barely had it made
150 leagues on its way than it was found necessary to put back to St.
Nazaire, for the ship's timbers were rotten and she made water fast.
At first it was thought, with so many hands on board, that by working
at the pumps they could proceed, there being then over one hundred men
of the Montreal party. But "having turned back at last, when they were
nearing land they would have perished," says Marguerite Bourgeoys,
"without the succour which, by the grace of God, the people of this
place (St. Nazaire) gave us."
In the Annals of the Hôtel-Dieu, an instance is related as occurring
on this voyage which illustrates the character of simplicity of M.
de Maisonneuve, with whom Marguerite Bourgeoys was now to become
acquainted. Madame de Chuly had taken care to provide her brother
with a wardrobe of very fine linen and such lace work as gentlemen of
position then wore. It happened that a few days after the ship had set
sail, the package which Marguerite Bourgeoys had made of these was
swept into the sea and, despite all her efforts, she was unable to
recover it.
Not knowing M. de Maisonneuve's character, and fearing that this loss,
which could not be repaired in Canada, might grieve a gentleman of
fashion such as she considered M. de Maisonneuve might be, she told
him of the misfortune with great apprehension, but to her relief the
governor of Montreal made light of it, laughingly remarking that
"both he and she were well rid of the care of such vanities." Later
Marguerite Bourgeoys was to learn of his extreme simplicity in all that
surrounded his private life.
Marguerite tells how M. de Maisonneuve on putting back to St. Nazaire
placed all his soldiers on a small island nearby to prevent them from
deserting, for they now feared the journey, having become excited and
alarmed and believing "they were being led to perdition." Some of them
threw themselves into the waves to escape. Another ship was chartered,
and set sail on July 20th, taking up the men from the island. But
soon fresh disaster--"ship" fever--broke out and many were laid low.
In these days of commodious sailing in a well appointed and sanitary
steamer that takes less than a week to come from Europe to Canada we
do not realize sufficiently the hardships of the early immigrant days.
This voyage took two months; the ship, maybe, a crazy tub of a sailing
vessel--the overcrowded accommodation of the most primitive order;
the provisions of the coarsest kind, and water scarce. Can we wonder
that before the journey ended we learn that out of the 113 men hired
by the Company of Montreal, eight had died? We may well imagine the
great grief of de Maisonneuve, for every man to him was a cherished
possession.
This period brought out the sterling character of Marguerite Bourgeoys,
who undertook the care of the nursing. Throughout the sickness she was
indefatigable, taking the men their meals, assisting the surgeons,
preparing the men for death, and nursing the others into convalescence.
Night and day she was lavish of her charity. It is related that she
would not accept a place with de Maisonneuve's party at table, but
would take her food and whatever delicacies there might be given by
them to distribute among the sufferers, while she herself was satisfied
with the common rations, and scarce portions at that.
Her zeal knew no relaxation, for, whether in sickness or in health, the
soldiers welcomed her as their nurse, their friend, their instructress,
their leader at the morning and night prayers, and singing and
spiritual reading. Thus she laid the foundations of that lasting
respect which the men of Montreal ever had for her.
At last the hoped-for recruitment reached the enfeebled garrison of
Quebec on September 22nd. There was Mademoiselle Jeanne Mance awaiting
the vessel to receive M. de Maisonneuve, to tell him of the perilous
fate of Montreal and to hear from him all the news of the good things
in store for it, for she was keen to hurry back to carry the glad
tidings thither.
We can imagine the courtly Maisonneuve now introducing to the lady of
the Hôtel-Dieu the new assistant that she was to have in the care and
training of the young of Montreal, Marguerite Bourgeoys of Troyes, whom
she would find of good sense and kindly heart, a virtuous and excellent
companion, and a powerful aid for the good work in the settlement. Thus
began an enduring friendship between these noble women.
It will be noticed that at this second foundation of Montreal, which
is now about to begin, history repeats itself. M. de Lauson, seeing
Quebec in its own dire necessity of defenders, would now prevent M.
de Maisonneuve from taking his convoy up country. But the governor of
Montreal firmly insisted on carrying out the project and he would not
leave behind him a single man of those who had cost the Company of
Montreal so much.
Moreover, Maisonneuve had a _lettre de cachet_ which the King, Louis
XIV, had granted the Company of Montreal on April 8, 1653, in which
he approved of the renewed appointment of Maisonneuve as governor,
giving him all power to continue the establishment of the settlement at
Montreal.
Thus silenced, the governor of Quebec could only resist by refusing
to provide transportation facilities by river. Thus it was that the
necessity of obtaining boats delayed Maisonneuve at Quebec for a
month. Meanwhile Marguerite nursed those still sick from the voyage
and presided over the distribution of the stores and the provisions as
Jeanne Mance had done in 1641.
It was during this time that the Ursulines of Quebec made overtures
to her to join their party; thus they thought that they might have a
branch establishment in Montreal.[72] But the future schoolmistress of
Montreal already saw her own vocation clearly before her. At length
the boats were ready and Maisonneuve sailed, last of all, with the
satisfaction of seeing that he did not leave one of his men behind him.
Ville Marie was reached on November 16, 1653.
On reaching Montreal, de Maisonneuve set about the work of
consolidating his colony. The elements he had chosen in his contingent
of 105 men, who, together with those already on the ground, formed
the nucleus of his future city, had in them the potentialities of a
well-constituted and progressive civic society. They were of different
trades, so that mutual help of a diversified nature could be given,
albeit they were all soldiers in that they each bore arms, ready to
build up the City of God, even as the builders of the temple of old had
gone about their work with trowel in one hand and sword in the other.
He found his men, whom the hardships of the journey may have daunted,
now enthusiastic for the ideal Christian life opening up to them and
disposed to make a permanent home with him. Consequently, in the course
of December they were ready to listen at the Sunday services, in the
fort chapel, to his overtures, made in the public announcements before
the sermon, stating the terms on which those that were willing to
forego their contract of remaining only for five years and then being
taken back to France, might be encouraged to build their permanent
homes and take up land.
The governor's intention was to induce them to abandon the advances
of money made in France, and later, on their arrival in Canada, on
condition of building their houses on an arpent of land granted on the
site chosen for the town and cultivating thirty acres on the slopes
of St. Louis or St. Joseph, in the vicinity, with the additional
consideration of a certain sum of money to provide the means to settle,
the latter sum being forfeited if they should ever quit the Island of
Montreal.
On the first day of January, 1654, André Demers thus received 400
_livres_ and two days afterwards Jean des Carris and Jean Le Duc
received 900 on the above promise, soon to be followed in the same
month and that of February by many others on similar terms. These sums
may seem modest, but it was an age of simplicity and they were adequate.
The wooden homes the settlers built on their one arpent were of the
simplest, and on the arrival of the last immigration there was much
activity in felling and carpentering. They assisted one another in
building their little houses of thirty feet, and the bachelors lived
in common till they had built their own homes or "shacks," as the
contracts prove.
The number of houses outside the fort began to grow. M. de Maisonneuve
increased the buildings of the hospital, and Jeanne Mance went back
to live there, protected from the Iroquois attacks by two redoubts he
had constructed hard by, in which were placed two pieces of cannon and
other artillery. The houses of the _habitants_ were built detached from
one another, but clustered, facing one another for mutual protection.
In the walls they had loopholes made so that each home was a fortress
with armed men inside. By 1659 there were about forty of these. The
fort began to be abandoned. Repairs were neglected on the bastions,
already battered by the ice shoves. Soon it sheltered the governor, the
d'Ailleboust family, the town major and his ordinary garrison, and some
others, among whom was Marguerite Bourgeoys.
The lands cultivated were mostly on the St. Louis slopes, and to
protect them Maisonneuve built a redoubt of twenty feet square and
sixteen in height, with a chimney. In 1654 he built another in this
section and gave the workers an indemnity of 300 _livres_.
All were very busy at their trades, for everything now had to be made
"in Canada." No one disdained manual labor, following the example of
the governor and d'Ailleboust and others, such as the town major,
Lambert Closse; Charles Le Moyne, interpreter and storekeeper for the
Company; the Notary Saint Père. Gilbert Barbier, the carpenter, who
was now dignified as fiscal procurator and justice of the peace, had
a busy time superintending and lending a hand to the rapidly arising
homesteads.
On their side, the women were not less engaged, baking the bread and
preparing the meals, combing the wool, spinning and weaving and making
the simple garments. Thirteen years later, when Marguerite Bourgeoys
formed her first community of two helpers, Marie Barbier, daughter of
Gilbert, the first Canadian girl to be received into the Congregation
of Notre-Dame of Montreal, could be seen in her religious habit going
to and from the pasturage grounds of the common, leading the cattle
and often bearing on her shoulders the flour which she had previously
taken as wheat to be ground at the mill. In similar attire could have
been seen Sister Crolo, tending the farm. And when not thus occupied,
Marguerite Bourgeoys and her companions were busy sewing and cutting,
to clothe the women and natives.
But in 1654 Marguerite Bourgeoys, the future schoolmistress, had not
gathered her community together, and she was not overburdened in this
office, for there was only one French girl, Jeanne Loisel, who, born
in Montreal on July 21, 1649, was now about 4-1/2 years of age. This
girl, who remained with Marguerite Bourgeoys till she was married, was
the first child to live to any age. For hitherto all that had been
born had died in their tender years. One child, the adopted daughter
of Parmenda, who had been born a year before coming to Montreal, had,
however, prospered, and she was shortly to be married, as we shall see.
The contracts of marriage, preserved in the city archives of this
period, gave an insight in the life of the time. The contract of
marriage of Louis Prud'homme with Roberte Gadois reveals that her
father gave his daughter, besides the sum of 500 _livres_, a complete
bed, fifty ells of silk, a cow and its calf, six dishes, six plates and
a pewter pot--luxuries in these primitive times.[73]
In a contract of the year 1650, we find that the bridegroom, of
well-to-do means, as a gift to his bride, gave, in his marriage
settlement, the sum of fifty to sixty _livres_ and his residence in
his principal house; and on her part she would bring her dowry of 500
_livres_.
Up to 1654 there had been only ten marriages between the French
settlers, the first having taken place in 1647, after the return of
Maisonneuve on his first visit to France, when he brought with him for
this purpose "some virtuous young women." Marriages flourished again
in 1650, when Jeanne Mance also returned with some eligible partners.
We find in November of this year that Louis Prud'homme, of whom we
have spoken, married Roberte Gadois; and Gilbert Barbier, Catherine de
Lavaux. In 1651 the notary, Jean Saint Père, married Maturine Godé,
the daughter of Nicholas Godé, whose family came over with Maisonneuve
at the first foundation of Montreal. On the occasion of his marriage,
in recompense "for his good and faithful service rendered during eight
years," Maisonneuve, in addition to the gift of forty arpents, promised
him six arpents of land, to be cultivated by him, meanwhile granting
him the enjoyment of six others already tilled near to the fort.
In 1654 there were naturally more marriages, and thirteen are therefore
registered. Of these early marriages, especially of this year, there
are many descendants still living.
Thus for some time Marguerite Bourgeoys, with the exception of Jeanne
Loisel, would have to exercise her care with Jeanne Mance in assisting
the newly-born children, visiting the sick, consoling the afflicted,
washing the linen or mending the clothing of the poor and the soldiers,
burying the dead and following the call of self-sacrifice everywhere.
Otherwise she dwelt within the fort with M. de Maisonneuve, looking
after his domestic arrangements, in a position of friendship and trust
but not of domestic service. Indeed, with Jeanne Mance she became his
wise adviser, for both seemed to have been largely consulted in the
affairs of the settlement.
It will be remembered that Marguerite Bourgeoys, who had taken a vow of
perpetual chastity in France, had been heard to place herself in the
hands of M. de Maisonneuve as in those of "one of the first Chevaliers
of the Angels."
Scrutiny into the life of de Maisonneuve, a "chevalier sans reproche,"
reveals us a singularly pure character. About this time the governor
had doubts whether he should take a wife, but, not feeling himself
called to the married state, he took, according to custom of the time,
a vow of virginity, so that his biographers speak of him as being a
religious without the habit. He was a man of prayer and devoted to
duty, sincere, unaffected and unostentatious, seeking neither praise
nor flattery, and undepressed by slights and contradictions. His life
ideals were high and saintly, and his whole conduct was that of a
Christian knight, a model to all under him. His household was simply
furnished; his table was frugal; he had only one servant, and this
man was the cook and general servant. In his dress ordinarily he
followed the habits of the people, wearing the _tuque_, or _capot_, and
grey tunic which have come down to us in some of the costumes of the
snowshoe clubs of Montreal of today. Yet, not unmindful of his dignity
as governor, on important occasions he would be habited as fitting his
rank as a soldier and a gentleman.
He never strove to make his post serve to increase his fortune,
although, like his lieutenants, he could have legitimately traded in
peltry, then beginning to be very profitable. He seems rather to have
embraced the "Lady Poverty" and to have been singularly unselfish
and altruistic. Dollier de Casson tells us, as an example of his
magnanimity and generosity, how, ever ready to recompense the good
actions of his soldiers, he would deprive himself of his provisions,
even those on his own table, to give them away. "On one occasion," says
this historian, "when the savages came to trade at this place, noticing
that one of his soldiers who had often given proofs of courage against
the enemy was in extreme depression, and having found out on enquiry
that it was caused by having nothing to trade with the Indians who
were then here, he thereupon led him into his own room, and, since the
man was a tailor, gave him all the cloth stuffs he could find, even to
the curtains of his bed, to make into wearing apparel which he might
sell to the Indians." Thus he sent the young soldier away happy. Such
generosity endeared him to his men.
The military organization of Montreal may be said to have become
solidified this year. For hitherto, beyond readiness to respond to the
call to arms, the soldier's sense of duty and _esprit de corps_ had not
been cultivated.
The governor took this work of formation into his own hands and
chose sixty-three of his most devoted men and erected a military
confraternity with the title of the "Soldiers of the Blessed Virgin."
He was proud to command these himself. These met in religious meetings
and the knightly de Maisonneuve would address them with glowing
words of encouragement to acquit themselves like good Christians and
soldiers. These were the governor's guard of honour, which came into
prominence whenever there was a great religious ceremony or civil
function, such as the reception of a distinguished visitor to the
island.
During the week, each of these in turn had the duty of sentinel,
parading the fields, on the lookout for traces of the dreaded Iroquois.
To be selected one of this military order was a high favour. One of
the privileges of this guard of honour was to escort Mademoiselle
Bourgeoys, shortly after her arrival, to the mountain to visit the
cross placed there by de Maisonneuve in 1642, but now found to have
been destroyed by the Iroquois in the recent war. It was immediately
replanted, under her direction, by Gilbert Barbier and four other men,
who placed a palisading around it. This monument was the Mecca of
pilgrimages until the occupation by the British in 1760.
The necessity of providing themselves with the needful and
indispensable objects of life stimulated the industry and inventiveness
of all, so that each man fulfilled many rôles. In addition, the spirit
of enterprise and initiative was encouraged by the cancellation of
their contracts made with the Company in France for mostly all now were
independent workers, anxious to make good for their own interests.
Still the Company had the onus of providing the public works, and the
contracts of this period show that it paid just salaries for services
rendered.
We have an insight into the medical history of the city in a contract
made by the first surgeon, Etienne Bouchard, on March 30, 1655, with
twenty-six families to treat them regularly for a certain sum. To
these were shortly added others to the number, in all, of forty-six.
This shows that the cancellation of the original contract, by which
the surgeon was appointed to give free medical treatment to all the
inhabitants, was a consequence of the new order of things.
The government of the settlement was very simple. Besides the governor,
there was a fiscal procurator or treasurer, a public notary, a keeper
of the storehouse of the Company, and a syndic.
The last named office was first filled in 1644, when Louis XIV gave
the Company of Montreal the right to erect a corporation. The syndic
was elected by a plurality of votes from the inhabitants themselves to
represent their interest and thus became a tribune of the people. He
had the privilege with those of Quebec and Three Rivers of assisting
at the election of the two councillors (or three in the absence of the
governor), who were chosen to compose the General Council of Nouvelle
France, with the governor general and the ecclesiastical superior, for
the time being, in Canada. They were even privileged to represent the
interests of their corporation at the council meetings and to have a
"voix délibérative" in these same matters.
By a royal act of 1647 the syndics could only be appointed for three
years, and by another of 1648 they could not negotiate any loan for
their corporations without the express sanction of the council at
Quebec, under pain of nullity, damages and interests incurred by the
syndics themselves.
The election of a syndic was a simple matter at Montreal. The
inhabitants had first to get the leave of the governor to call a
meeting. The public notary employed by the Company called this and
presided. Placing before the electors the names of likely persons for
the office, he called upon them to subscribe their names or their
marks to the candidate of their choice. On the votes being counted,
the person elected might refuse the honour, but the spirit of civic
duty always prompted him to respond to the call. He then promised to
discharge his duties faithfully, and the retiring syndic would hand
over to his successor the care of the documents of the corporation,
the contracts of property, etc., and other titles such as that already
granted to the syndic for the people in 1651, when forty arpents were
given over to them for a "common."
In the year 1654 it would have been the syndic who received the grant
made to the corporation by the governor on behalf of the Seigneurs of
Montreal, of land for the new cemetery, given on the condition that if
this changed its place, it should revert to the Seigneurs.
The little cemetery, in which for twelve years the first brave
defenders of the Castle Dangerous of Montreal had been buried, had
this year to be abandoned and the bodies removed to higher ground, for
the constant floods of the St. Lawrence had sadly ill used the little
palisaded God's acre at "the Point," or the corner of the junction of
the rivulet St. Pierre and the main stream.
The "new cemetery," as it was called in the burial register on the date
December 11, 1654, was placed on a portion of the ground belonging
to the Hôtel-Dieu, bun above the latter, at a point today occupied
by the southern portion of the Place d'Armes and the piazza steps of
Notre Dame Church. It was at the head of what was the second street or
tract called St. Joseph Street, and nowadays St. Sulpice, while at the
bottom, at the southwest corner bounded by St. Paul Street, was the
Hôtel-Dieu. This cemetery was used for the next twenty-four years.[74]
The expense of these changes was borne by the parishioners and not by
the Company--another sign of the times. We know this, for the salaries
paid are still to be seen in the original document in which it is
recorded that Gilbert Barbier, the carpenter who erected the cross,
gave the half of his salary as a contribution, to the church.
The church towards which Gilbert Barbier gave his donation was probably
not the mission chapel which had been so long the centre of parish life
and piety in the fort itself, but towards a new one that already, on
June 29th of this year, had been determined on to be started as soon as
possible owing to the increase of population from the reinforcement of
1653.
On this day, the feast of SS. Peter and Paul, the syndic had called
a meeting of the habitants in the presence of the governor, when
Jean Saint Père was elected by a majority of votes to act as the
"receiver of alms," or treasurer for funds for a new church. He was to
keep account of all sums given to him, with the names of the donors
and should furnish a financial statement every three months to the
governor. In addition it was ruled that all donations in grain, or in
kind, subject to deterioration, should be sold by the treasurer to the
highest bidder, provided that the auction should be publicly announced
by a notice affixed to the fort gate three days in advance of the sale.
Finally, the treasurer should hand over the sums received by him, when
required, to the director of the church building to be erected by the
citizens in the presence of the governor when there shall be need for
such an appointment. Besides the private donations M. de Maisonneuve,
as the administrator of justice, applied the court fines to the church
fund.
But it was not till August 28, 1656, that the foundations of the new
church were laid. In the meantime the people still worshiped in the
fort chapel, now become too small for its increased population through
the recent influx of the troops of soldiers and the women. It had
many dear memories symbolized by the baptisms, marriages and deaths,
and the feasts and festivals of the year. At its services the Jesuit
missionaries, such as Isaac Jogues, Poncet, Buteaux and others, had
officiated with mutilated limbs, a living instance of the ever brooding
presence of the revengeful Iroquois.[75] In this little mission chapel
many a prayer had gone forth for the relief which tardily came.
But it was too small and must give place to another--a real parish
church, large, dignified and commodious, to meet the needs of the
expanding corporation. The cherished decorations and the altar
furniture and plate, which were gifts from rich friends in France,
would still be a link between the old and the new, and thus its memory
would be kept forever green.
The old chapel church still continued its work. It witnessed, on May
28th of the year following, 1654, the marriage of Charles Le Moyne with
the adopted daughter of Antoine Primot and Martine Mercier, his wife,
whom we know as the valiant and chaste Parmenda. This girl, Catherine
Thierry, probably a niece of Madame Primot, had been brought as a
child of one year to Montreal in 1642, and she was commonly known as
Catherine Primot and was now fourteen years of age. This union begot
the famous Le Moyne family. Their first home was on the arpent town
lot near the hospital. On February 3rd the fort chapel witnessed the
marriage of Jean Gervaise and Anne Archambault, who also reared one of
the most numerous and honourable families of Montreal. This was the
fourth marriage of the thirteen occurring this year.
The history of Anne Archambault gives us an insight into one of the
few scandals of the time. This was Anne's second marriage, having
been married before the church in Quebec in July, 1647, to a Michel
Chauvin, _dit_ Ste Suzanne who had been sent out by de la Dauversière
to Montreal in the service of the Company in 1644.
In 1650 Louis Prud'homme, of whom we have made mention already, had
on a voyage to France discovered that Chauvin had deserted his wife,
and on returning to Montreal he had notified the authorities, so that
on October 8, 1650, Chauvin acknowledged freely before Jean Saint
Père, the official notary of justice, that some seven years before
leaving France for Canada he had married Louise de Liles. He then
hurriedly departed for Quebec and took the first boat back to France.
Anne Archambault had one child by this scoundrel, born on April
5th following. To sympathize with her Jeanne Mance and M. Charles
d'Ailleboust des Musseaux were the godparents.
To the great joy of the colony, Anne Archambault was honourably
remarried on February 3, 1654, to Jean Gervaise, one of the recruits
brought over by de Maisonneuve in the previous autumn. The esteem of
the public was manifested to offset the unaccustomed scandal that had
arisen in their midst. One child, Charlotte Chauvin, was reared by
these two and for this purpose the governor gave special assistance on
behalf of the Company. At this time there were also several orphans,
children of soldiers that had died in battle with the Iroquois, and for
these de Maisonneuve also provided.
Thus the spirit of fervour, charity and uprightness of morals was
exercised in the life of this primitive church of the settlement.
Sister Morin, in the Annals of the Hôtel-Dieu, writes of these early
times: "Nothing was put under key in these days, neither the houses,
chests, or cellars; everything was left open without anyone repenting
of their trustfulness. Those who were in easy circumstances hastened
to lend their assistance to others less fortunate, and gave it
spontaneously without waiting to be called upon, making it a pleasure
to forestall all needs and to give their marks of affection and esteem
to one another."
The words of Longfellow, written so long after, of Grandpré, the home
of Evangeline, might be well applied to Ville Marie at this date:
"Neither locks had they to their doors, nor bars to their windows;
But their dwellings were open as day, and the hearts of the owners.
There the richest were poor, and the poorest lived in abundance."
FOOTNOTES:
[70] How many of those hired sailed for Montreal? An unedited list
containing 102 names has lately been found in the archives of the
Seminary of St. Sulpice at Montreal by Mr. C. O. Bertrand, and has
been reproduced with notes by Mr. E. Z. Massicotte in the Canadian
Antiquarian and Numismatic Journal for October, 1913 (Third Series,
Vol. X). The original number of engagés, according to Faillon, taken
from the notarial contracts before Maître Lafousse at La Flèche,
was 154. But examination shows that, owing to several duplications,
this must be reduced to 150. Before sailing at St. Nazaire only 103,
according to Faillon, answered the call. But on the examination of
Faillon's list, it is seen that the number was 102, which corresponds
with the newly found list.
Marguerite Bourgeoys says that there were about 120 passengers, of whom
108 were "soldiers," as she calls the engagés. The Abbé de Belmont
gives 105 soldiers. Mr. Massicotte, from a study of the contracts of
marriages shortly after the arrival of the recruits of 1653 and other
sources, supplies the eighteen missing members thus: A married woman,
two single women, four men, M. de Maisonneuve, Marguerite Bourgeoys,
and nine others who are mentioned by the latter as "quelques filles,"
who were brought for marriageable purposes.
Marguerite Bourgeoys mentions that eight were buried at sea. Of the 102
in the list mentioned above, Mr. Massicotte finds eleven names that
never occur in any of the documents of the period at Montreal. Hence he
concludes that their owners never reached Montreal and that therefore
eight at least of them correspond to those that were buried in the
ocean.
[71] For she was now thirty-three years of age, having been born on
April 17, 1620, in the town of Troyes in Champagne. Her mother had died
when Marguerite was still young, and early she developed that motherly
thoughtfulness and mature judgment which fitted her later in the
settlement for her matronly solicitude for soldiers and children of the
fort at Montreal, as since her mother's death she had had the care of
her father's children. He, too, had lately died and she was now free to
follow a life of sacrifice.
[72] It was with the view of seeing the possibility of establishing
such a branch that Madame de la Peltrie had delayed in Montreal till
the spring of 1644.
[73] The simplicity of life in a pioneering settlement in New France
less than a century later can be more readily understood if we
but glance at the simple and severe customs prevailing in England
previously to this. It is related of Queen Elizabeth that in the
third year of her reign she received a present of knitted black silk
stockings, an unheard of thing hitherto; in 1588 she appeared, in
public, mounted on the crupper of her horse, behind her chamberlain,
for it was after this date that carriages came into vogue.
[74] The act of November 28th by Père Pijart mentions only "cemeterio,"
that is the old cemetery at Pointe à Callières. The act of December
11th, however, has clear mention of the change to the new cemetery.
"_In novo hospitalis Domus cemeterio Franciscus Lachot sepultus a me
Claudio Pijart, Societatis Jesu Sacerdote_"--In the new cemetery of the
hospital Francis Lachot was buried by me Claude Pijart, priest of the
Society of Jesus.
[75] Most of the earliest Jesuits had served them at least in passing
through, on their adventurous work of Christianizing the redskins of
Canada; of such Bancroft, the historian, has said: "Not a cape was
turned, not a river entered, but a Jesuit led the way."