Edouard Lacroix: it’s a common name. When I moved to the St. John Valley, I was regularly asked whether I was related to Edouard Lacroix. Also known as “King” Lacroix, this fellow, a Beauceron, served in Quebec’s legislative assembly and played an essential part in the development of the Allagash region. His lumber interests were […]
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Research Note: The Eagle, the Lion, and the Hébert Household
The anniversary of the Webster-Ashburton agreement of 1842 awaits us on August 9. The treaty resolved many outstanding issues. For the purposes of this post, it settled, once and for all, the location of the northeastern boundary between the British colonies and the State of Maine. In the St. John Valley, the treaty had a […]
Continue readingChandonnet and the “Horror and Execration of Posterity”
The age of the Atlantic Revolutions began in Lexington in 1775 and ended in Odelltown sixty-odd years later. Through that time, societies on both sides of the ocean wrestled with a question of daunting proportions and implications: What type of insurrection ought to be allowed or considered legitimate? This was a pressing concern for Americans […]
Continue readingIl y a 250 ans, les fondements de l’américanité
C’est un épisode de notre histoire que nous connaissons peu mais qui a momentanément rivalisé la Conquête de 1759-1760 en importance. À l’automne 1775, l’armée des insurgés anglo-américains envahit la vieille province de Québec et prend Montréal. Pendant près de six mois, ce corps expéditionnaire assoit imparfaitement son pouvoir sur la vallée du fleuve Saint-Laurent […]
Continue readingPapa Michaud Was a Rolling Stone
Michaud: it’s a common name. Statistics published several decades ago ranked it among the 50 most common surnames in Quebec—ahead of Desjardins, Parent, Charbonneau, and Lacroix. Just across the border, it outnumbered all other names in the early records of the Fort Kent, Maine, Catholic parish. Michauds are still present all across the Upper St. […]
Continue readingNotes from a So-Called Artificial Country
Canada’s forty-fifth general election concluded on April 28. Though the margin was relatively slim from a historical standpoint and this will again be a minority Parliament, the Liberal Party increased both its popular support and its seat count. Prime Minister Mark Carney will likely hold the reins of power until the New Democratic Party selects […]
Continue readingForgotten Tales of the Cold French North
Jean Baptiste In the nineteenth century, Jean Baptiste became an unofficial moniker for French Canadians—a symbolic term applied to them by English speakers to mirror their own John Bull and Brother Jonathan. A glimpse of parish records in the St. John Valley suggests that there was something to it. But in the same records we […]
Continue readingBefore Lord Durham
Quebec historians and mythmakers have accorded a lot of attention to Lord Durham, the governor who spent five months in Lower Canada in 1838. Today, he might be remembered for granting a broad amnesty to people implicated in the first rebellion, if remembered at all, were it not for the report he submitted in Britain […]
Continue readingHistoire du Québec : Rectifier le tir
À lire ce qui s’écrit sur les réseaux sociaux, bon nombre de Québécoises et de Québécois vivent un combat quotidien—une petite guerre amorcée à la fin du régime français et loin d’être achevée, une petite guerre qui anime tous les aspects de la vie publique du Québec. Entendons-nous : le fait français est minoritaire dans son […]
Continue readingTransnational Tales of the Civil War, Part I
Private Sylvester Turner’s experiences during the War of the Rebellion are probably lost to time. But those experiences were undoubtedly trying, complex, and sobering. The Second Vermont Infantry with which Turner served fought in some of the bloodiest engagements of the war, including Antietam and Gettysburg. In fact, the Vermont Brigade had an unequalled casualty […]
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