Montreal, 1535-1914. Vol. 1. Under the French Régime, 1535-1760

The wars of the Iroquois were fiercer than ever. Fear filled the hearts of all the Montrealers. The fort was the centre of surprises. Yet this year the first windmill was constructed by de Maisonneuve, at what is still known as Windmill Point. It was built with loopholes for musketry, so that the mill was intended not only to grind the wheat but to be an advanced redoubt and a challenge to the Iroquois to show them that the French were not ready to abandon their field of glory. On October 21st Charles d'Ailleboust went to France whence he would return as the governor general.

A word should now be said of the government of the country. By a decree of the king in 1647 it had been arranged that the government of the country should be left in the matter of police, commerce and war in the hands of three, viz., the governor general, the superior of the Jesuits and the governor of Montreal.

The governor of Quebec was given a salary of 25,000 livres, with the privilege of having sent to him each year, without expense, seventy tons of freight by the vessels of the fleet on the condition that he should provide the fort with arms and ammunitions. He was to have, besides, his own private lieutenant, another at Three Rivers, and finally sixty-six garrison men who should be maintained at the expense of the stores. It was further settled that the governor general should journey into the country as he should judge fit.

As to the local governor of Montreal his salary should be 10,000 livres, with thirty tons of freight, and he was to support a garrison of thirty men. Finally 5,000 livres were granted annually to the superior of the Jesuits for their missions.

These privileges of the royal decision did not give pleasure to many in the colony. M. de Maisonneuve seems to have opposed them in France. It was alleged that M. de Montmagny, in the frequent absence from Quebec, of the superior of the Jesuits on missions, and that of the governor of Montreal, was practically sole ruler; that he was drawing too large a salary and was not fulfilling the conditions imposed upon him in safeguarding the other outposts of the colony. Thus there was dissatisfaction among the colonists, and M. Charles d'Ailleboust with M. des Chastelets went to France to procure amendments.

M. de Montmagny was about to be recalled. His rule was considered inefficient. A mémoire by M. de la Chesnaye says that there was a secret cabal intriguing against the governor, composed of a few of the chief families, who went to France to enrich themselves, and got one of their own named as governor general. This alludes to de Maisonneuve, des Chastelets and d'Ailleboust. The former is known to have refused a nomination to the post and des Chastelets and d'Ailleboust, among other things, asked for a reduction of the salary of the governor general from 25,000 livres to 10,000.

On the 5th of March, 1648, these amendments passed. In addition the governing council of Canada was now to be composed of the governor general, the superior of the Jesuits, and MM. de Chavigny, Godefroy of Quebec, and Giffard, to which body the local governors of Three Rivers and Montreal should be added when they should happen to be in Quebec.

The 19,000 livres over should be partially employed in raising a "camp volant," or flying squadron drawn from men of existing garrisons if there should be sufficient so disposable, or if not, it should be raised as soon as possible. In the summer this flying squadron should guard all the passages by land and water under the command of some capable officer to be appointed by the governor, and in the winter it should be distributed in the garrisons to sally forth thence to beat the bush and to rove around.

The rest of the 19,000 livres should be employed in purchasing arms and ammunition. Besides this flying squadron the king allowed a company formed by the settlers at their own expense to act as the necessary escort to the Hurons or the missionaries. For the support of this, trading was allowed on these journeys on the condition of bringing the skins to the government stores at Quebec and sold at the price fixed by the Quebec council.

These changes were not received with favour by the old party and d'Ailleboust was made to realize this on his way back. However, he came to Quebec as governor general on August 20th and was received with "generous magnanimity" by Montmagny, who left on September 23d. Madame d'Ailleboust and her sister, Phillipine de Boulogne, joined the governor at Quebec. There was grief at Montreal in losing them, but this was tempered by its pride in furnishing the governor general from its midst.

A few words are needed in further explanation of the "camp volant" above alluded to.

"In 1642," according to Benjamin Suite, Canadian Antiquarian and Numismatic Journal, 1879, "there were no less than seventy soldiers at Three Rivers whose duty it was, not only to defend that place against the Iroquois, but to patrol Lake St. Peter also. The same year only fifteen soldiers were quartered at Quebec—a much less exposed position than Three Rivers. In the year 1644 some troops were sent to Canada by Anne d'Autriche. Twenty-three of these soldiers accompanied the Hurons, the missionaries and a few Frenchmen, who went to the Georgian Bay that summer. M. Ferland says that the garrison of Montreal numbered thirty men in 1647; but he evidently means the thirty men placed under the orders of Jean Bourdon for reconnaissance purposes on Lake St. Peter." These were "soldiers" from 1642; from 1649 there were volunteers, and from 1651, if not before, a sedentary militia was established.

About 1647 Montmagny had considered a project for forming an active militia to be on the lookout against the Iroquois, but his resources were too slender. In the spring of 1649 the "camp volant" was organized under the command of Charles J. d'Ailleboust de Musseaux, nephew of the new governor general, M. d'Ailleboust. It numbered forty men and its duty consisted in patrolling on the St. Lawrence between Montreal and Three Rivers.

After the slaughter of Sieur Duplessis Kerbodot, nephew of M. Lauson, now governing and the successor of de Musseaux, on August 19th, together with fifteen Frenchmen, the "camp volant" became disorganized for the winter, but it was apparently reformed in the summer of 1653. After that it seems to have been neglected during the government of D'Argenson and D'Avaugour. In fact a body of regular troops was required to check the Iroquois, and not mere militia, whose men could not attend to their farm and other business and at the same time keep beating the country nearly all the year round. Hence the request for troops, of Father Lejeune in 1660, and Pierre Boucher in 1661. In 1663 a body of militia was organized at Montreal.

The next spring, 1640, the "camp volant" of forty men was sent to Montreal under the command of the nephew of the new governor, Charles d'Ailleboust des Musseaux, to help to repulse the Iroquois. About the same time the new governor went to pay his first official visit to Ville Marie.

He communicated the king's order as above, and among other instructions he communicated directions from the Company of Montreal. One, touching the administration of the Hôtel-Dieu, regulated that the surgeon of this house should attend the sick of the island gratuitously, both French and Indians, and that the administration accounts of the hospital should be rendered annually to the governor of Montreal, the ecclesiastical superior and to the syndics of the inhabitants, who should sign an act to be sent to Paris.

During this stay the governor, on May 3rd, put the Jesuits [59] formally in possession of the Seigneurie de Madeleine on the south side of the St. Lawrence, comprising land two leagues in length by four in depth, stretching from St. Helen's island towards the Sault St. Louis. This had been granted by François de Lauson on April 1, 1647.

Sad news had been brought to Jeanne Mance by the governor that many of the Associates were losing their interest in Montreal and were diverting their charities to the missions in the Levant. Anxious to get further news she went to Quebec in the summer and there she found that Père Rapin, the Recollect, her intermediary with Madame de Bullion, was dead; that the Company of Montreal was almost dissolved; that M. de la Dauversière was dangerously ill; that his affairs had become entangled, and he was now a bankrupt. As he had money in trust for Madame de Bullion, this was a blow for the colony.

The outlook for Montreal was now financially gloomy. Ville Marie was also surrounded by war. Jeanne Mance therefore set sail from Quebec on September 8th to interest her friends in the struggling settlement. In this she was very successful. Madame de Bullion received her with kindness and gave her a sum of money to engage workmen to till lands to support the hospital. The Associates renewed their interest, and in order to guarantee the continuance of their Seigneurie a new act was drawn up to supplement that of March 25, 1644, in which M. de Fancamp and M. de la Dauversière had sworn that they were occupiers of Montreal in the name of a company, so that these nine remaining members were now publicly named and signed their names, making at the same time a mutual donation, reciprocal and irrevocable, by which they handed over to the last surviving of them the forts, habitations and outhouses, etc., belonging to the said Company. This was signed before the Notaries Pourcelle and Chaussiere on March 21, 1650. [60]

The Company gave the hospital also 200 arpents of land. Jeanne Mance saw many of the associates privately and stimulated their interest, as well as that, of others. In the month of September, 1650, she arrived at Quebec with some labourers and some virtuous marriageable girls, leaving it on September 25th for Montreal and arriving there three days before the feast of All Saints (November 1st). [61]

The year 1650 may be chronicled as that of the first general movement towards agriculture. The constant fear of Iroquois' attacks had kept the settlers pent up within the walls of the fort, although there had been since 1643 individual attempts by Charles d'Ailleboust and others outside. [62] The activity started by Jeanne Mance in putting into cultivation the 200 arpents lately conceded by the Associates of the Company of Montreal to the Hôtel-Dieu encouraged others to take to the land and to build their dwellings on the concessions which they now demanded from M. Maisonneuve, since it was now thought there was a likelihood of peace.

These early grants were only of thirty arpents and to ensure as great protection as possible against Iroquois attacks, they were clustered around the fort and the brewery. In granting these lands, however, the seigneurs stipulated that they could be exchanged later for others at a remote distance, for the location at present used was reserved for the future city, for the building of the market place, the port and other public purposes.

What may be called the history of mutual building societies now starts, for as the number of workmen were limited, the inhabitants, led by the motives of fraternal charity and public spirit, formed associations to help one another in the clearing of their lots and in the construction of their homes. Thus a contract dated November 15, 1650, between Jean des Carris and Jean Le Duc, binds them to assist each other to build at common expense a ho, for each, on a clearing, of ten acres each, made by them, and that if one of them fell sick the work should be continued by the other without remuneration.

In the present case after the clearing had been made and the house built on Jean des Carris' concession, the war intervening would not allow similar work to be done on that of Jean Le Duc, and in consequence Jean Le Duc received from his partner 580 livres in recompense for his services.

The harvest of this year was very successful; "particularly at Montreal where the lands are very excellent," is the account in the "Relations."

It is not difficult now to present a picture of Montreal or Ville Marie of this period. On the northeast portion of the triangular piece of land watered on the east and north by the little River St. Peter and on the south by the St. Lawrence, there was the fort and the new concessions with their wooden buildings being erected thereon; on the southern portion there was a long sweep of ground, an arpent in depth and forty in length, along the banks of the river westward, on which the cattle of the soldiers and others who were now becoming farmers were allowed to stray. This was known as "the Common" [63] and was granted to Jean de Saint Père as the syndic for the people in October, 1651, on the understanding that it should revert to the seigneurs when they should need it for city expansion. In this common, which was protected by the fort and the houses above, the animals, under the care of a watchman, were safe from immediate attack, since all approaching this pasturage must necessarily venture from afar and be visible. At the west end of the common was the windmill near the river. [64] Across the little river there were the houses of M. Maisonneuve and that of the Hôtel-Dieu. This comprised the situation.

In spite of the pictures of progress and contentment we have presented as existing towards the end of 1649 and the earlier part of 1650, we must remember that Montreal was frequently the rendezvous of bands of Hurons and their Jesuit missionaries, who told of their flight from the cruelty of the Iroquois; of forts destroyed, pillaged, of burnings and massacres. Montreal itself, they were told, was soon be the object of attack. Hence the bands did not delay. After the horrible scenes that had occurred at St. Louis [65] in July of 1650 the missionaries brought down three or four hundred Lake Hurons, the relics of three to four thousand, to Ville Marie, where they stayed only two days. The "Relation" of this year says: "This is an advantageous situation for the settlement of the savages, but as it is the frontier of the Iroquois, whom our Hurons flee from, more than death itself, they could not determine to start their colony then."

Dollier de Casson gives us this insight into the fear caused at Ville Marie by these visits and their recitals of disaster. The evident reflection then was, "If we who are only a handful of Europeans, do not offer a firmer and more vigorous resistance than 30,000 Hurons have done, then we must reconcile ourselves to be burnt alive at a slow fire with all the refinements of unheard of cruelty."

But this year Montreal was able to breathe in comparative peace. A picture of Montreal of this year is presented by Père P. Ragueneau, the Jesuit superior of the missions, writing from Quebec on October 8th to Father Picolomini, the general of the order at Rouen: At Montreal there are barely sixty Frenchmen, twenty Hurons, a few Algonquins and two of our fathers. They cannot leave this fort, which is always very much exposed."

In the spring of 1651, a perilous period began. Speaking of this year the Jesuit "Relations" say in general: "It is a marvel that the French of Ville Marie were not exterminated by the frequent surprises of Iroquois bands." Other contemporaneous chroniclers repeat the same. Sister Morin, in the "Annals of the Hôtel-Dieu of Montreal," writes: "Often ten men of Ville Marie, or less, have been seen holding their own against fifty or eighty Iroquois, who have acquired for themselves a great reputation in all Canada and in France, and the Iroquois have several times avowed that three men of Montreal have inspired them with more fear than six from elsewhere."

The attacks now were very frequent and sudden. Although the garrison fought well and bravely, its losses were severe compared with those of the Iroquois, who though losing more men, yet were able to replace them.

Some of these encounters have been preserved to us. The following occurred on May 6, 1651: On this day, Jean Boudard had left his house with a man named Jean Chicot when suddenly they found themselves surprised by eight or ten Iroquois. Chicot ran for safety to a tree recently cut down and hid himself there, but Boudard, making headlong for his home, met his wife, Catherine Mercier, not far from it. Asking her whether the dwelling was open she replied: "No, I have locked it!" "Ah!" cried he, "then it is death for both of us! Let us fly at once." In their flight, the wife could not keep pace with him and, being left behind, was seized by the Indians. Hearing her cries the husband returned and attacked them with fisticuffs, so violently that, not being able to master him otherwise, they massacred him on the spot. The cries and confusion aroused three of the settlers, Charles Le Moyne, Archambault and another, who, running to render assistance, were seen falling into an ambuscade of forty Indians behind the hospital. Discovering their mistake they made a retreat to the front door of the hospital which luckily was open, having escaped a brisk fusillade, as Le Moyne well knew by the hole in his hat. With the captive woman, the Indians who had surprised Boudard then sought the hiding place of Chicot. He defended himself with his feet and hands so vigorously that fearing, lest he should be assisted by the Frenchmen they now saw approaching, they took his scalp, taking a piece of his skull with it. This they carried with them as a trophy, as well as the head of Boudard, who was commonly known as "Grand Jean." Jean Chicot did not die, however, till nearly fourteen years later, but Catherine Mercier was brutally burned after having been inhumanly disfigured, [66] during the summer of the same year in the Iroquois camp.

Four days later another alarm aroused the fort. About two hours after midnight, a band of forty Iroquois attacked the brewery and some of the houses. Two of these, belonging to Urbain Tessier dit Lavigne and Michel Chauvin, they burned, and the brewery would have been reduced to ashes if the guard of four men within, had not repulsed their attack with vigour and put them to flight.

On the 18th of June, on a Sunday morning, a party of four, probably returning to their newly constructed houses from the church in the fort, was surprised between the fort and Point St. Charles by a large body of Iroquois. These four ran to a hut used as a kind of watch house or redoubt, overlooking a quantity of felled timber, where they were quickly joined by Urbain Tessier and, resolving to sell their lives dearly, they kept up a lively fusillade on the enemy.

The noise attracted de Maisonneuve in camp and he sent a relief party under Charles Le Moyne with such success that the Iroquois were put to flight, leaving behind them twenty-five to thirty men dead on the field, independently of those who were taken prisoners. On the French side only four were wounded, although one of them, Léonard Lucault dit Barbot, died two days afterwards, being buried in the cemetery. Belmont, in his "Histoire du Canada," mentions another among the dead, but the parish register only mentions one.

Thus, amid such daily hostilities, was life insecurely led by the settlers, since it was not safe to venture even a few yards from their houses without pistol, musket or sword.

Jeanne Mance, in a memoir to be found among the archives of the seminary at Quebec, tells how the governor now obliged all the colonists to leave their newly constructed houses and retire with their families to the safety of the fort. She herself was forced to leave the hospital. Maisonneuve turned this into a military outpost to guard the isolated redoubts scattered here and there in the field and to protect the workmen, by placing in it a squad of soldiers. He had two pieces of cannon taken there and swivel guns for the windows of the granaries, and he had loopholes cut into the walls of the building all around, even in the chapel which served as an artillery armoury.

In this way the hospital became a fortress for four years and a half. On July 26th the wisdom of Maisonneuve's arrangement was evident. Marguerite Bourgeoys is responsible for the story. On this day 200 Iroquois had concealed themselves in a trench originally built as a defence for the hospital, and which, descending from a height nearby, close to the place where St. Jean Baptiste street is today, crossed the site of St. Paul street.

All of a sudden the concealed foes disclosed their presence by attempting to take possession of the building and to set it on fire. Meanwhile the garrison within, consisting of Lambert Closse, [67] the town major, and sixteen of his men made a vigorous and valorous defence against the 200 from 6 o'clock in the morning to 6 at night, and losing only one man, Denis Archambault, who met his death by a splinter from the cast iron cannon which had exploded, killing him on the spot, but without dealing death to the enemy outside. The cannon was fired by himself. Finally the enemy were forced to retreat, burning a neighbouring house in revenge for their loss of men.

Other engagements of a like nature took place but the details have not been recorded. Three Rivers and Quebec were in similar straits. Disaster, loss, and want of reinforcement for two years had reduced Montreal to but about fifty defenders, so that there was now open talk of abandoning it and leaving Canada.

One hope remained, suggested to the governor by Jeanne Mance; it was that the 22,000 livres put aside as the revenue for the hospital might be diverted to the expense of sending out a reinforcement to save Montreal, and she thought that she might interpret her "unknown benefactress'" goodwill as agreeable to this, seeing the extremity in which Montreal now stood.

But de Maisonneuve accepted the offer only on the condition that in exchange Mademoiselle Mance should receive for the hospital 100 arpents of the domain of the seigneurs. Meanwhile he could go to France and call on the unknown benefactress herself whose name was now divulged to him. Mademoiselle Mance tells how "M. de Maisonneuve determined on departing for France, told me that if he could not obtain at least 100 men, he would return no more to Ville Marie; and in this case he would order me to return to France with all our party." Thus the abandonment of the settlement was now threatened.

Before leaving M. de Maisonneuve named the nephew of Louis d'Ailleboust, M. Charles d'Ailleboust, Sieur des Musseaux, to be the governor of Montreal in his stead.

In the meantime the new governor general, M. de Lauson, of whom we have spoken already, had arrived on October 13th to succeed M. Louis d'Ailleboust at Quebec. This was no good tidings for Montreal, for as Dollier de Casson remarks, the new governor made known "his good feelings towards the Messieurs de Montréal" and the good treatment they ought to hope from him by retrenching 1,000 from the 4,000 livres granted by the general Company for the upkeep of the governor and his garrison. [68]

"I do not wish," says he, "to say anything touching the conduct of this gentleman towards this island, more especially as I wish to believe that he has always had the very best of intentions, although he was always wise to his own interest since if he had more frequently strengthened the embankment here, the Iroquois inundations would not have so easily taken their course towards Quebec and they would not have done the mischief they did, for they have not always respected even his own family."

De Maisonneuve before leaving for France persuaded the governor of Quebec to send ten men as a reinforcement to Ville Marie. Dollier de Casson, the quondam soldier now priest, treating this quaintly as follows, says facetiously that de Lauson kept his promise, "sending their arms in advance," meaning that he sent none at all. This is confirmed by M. de Belmont, who says that "M. de Lauson sent, in spite of his own wish, ten soldiers without arms and provisions." "But he sent them so late," says Dollier, probably on the testimony of eye-witnesses, "and put them on a chaloupe so poorly clad that they almost froze to death, and they were taken for living spectres coming, as mere skeletons, to confront the hardships of the winter. It was a rather surprising thing to see them arrive in this turnout at this season, considering that it was the 10th of December; so much so that it seemed doubtful whether they were men or not, this only being cleared up when they were seen close at hand; moreover in constitution these men were most sickly, two of them being mere boys, though in truth they have become since very good settlers, of whom one is called Saint Ange and the other, Lachapelle. These poor soldiers were no sooner here than their hosts proceeded to warm them up as well as they could, by giving them good cheer and good clothing, and then they came to be of service in repelling the Iroquois whom we had to deal with at close quarters every day."

Surely Montreal must have been looked upon as a forlorn hope!

NOTE

THE EXPLOIT OF PLACE D'ARMES

The site of this is claimed by the Abbé Rousseau in his "Maisonneuve," page 77, as the space in front of the fort known as the Place d'Armes, afterwards the market place and now known as Custom House Square, and the road abutting the new buildings of the Hôtel-Dieu arising at the corner of St. Joseph Street (St. Sulpice) and the corner of St. Paul Street.

The Abbé Faillon, Vol. II, page 25, "Histoire de la Colonie Française," argues for the present Place d'Armes in front of Notre Dame Parish Church. M. L. A. Huguet Latour, the first editor of the Annuaire de Ville Marie, holds the same view.

There was a blazed trail, running up the slope of St. Sulpice Street, which probably went up to the mountain where de Maisonneuve placed his cross. In a map of 1680 such a road ran by the northwest corner of the present Place d'Armes.

Faillon claims it was here that the exploit took place; the argument of time and distance for the action as related by de Casson being more congruous for this position than at the lower position just outside the fort in the sight of the defenders within. But it must be remembered that the present Place d'Armes did not get its name from this exploit. This name does not appear till 1717, when Chassegros de Léry, engineer of New France, forwarded to France a lengthy report as to the advantage of Montreal for the purposes of fortifications. In this report he said:

"I have marked a place d'armes, in front of the parish church where might afterwards be moved a number of barracks, the houses which are in that place being of small value."

During the year the work was commenced, but from lack of funds it was discontinued. Up to 1721 no further progress was made but in that year it was fairly entered upon and de Léry superintended it. (Vide "Canadiana," Vol. I, pp. 47, 63, 77; notes of John Talon Lespérance, Henry Platt, Wm. McLennan.)

Let us compromise and say that most of the action took place on St. Sulpice Street, between the present and the old Place d'Armes, the latter incidents of the story taking place near the old Place d'Armes.

CHAPTER IX

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 Sœur 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 4½ 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.