Nearly coinciding with the country’s 250th anniversary, this is Query the Past’s 250th blog post. Thank you for reading. Léon Ducharme said to me, “Madam, you must only take the clothing you need for yourself and your children, give us the keys, and leave; we are here to take possession of this house, it belongs […]
Continue readingCategory: French Canada
Migrant Families: Quebec to New Hampshire
In Query the Past’s last post, we explored the history of Newmarket, New Hampshire, as an industrial and post-industrial town. From the 1870s to the 1920s, opportunities in manufacturing attracted hundreds of French Canadians. These migrants laid the basis for a lasting Franco-American presence that endures to this day. The present blog post provides brief […]
Continue readingThe Canuck as Character: An Origin Story
This blog post follows an article titled “Silent But Visible? French Canadians on Stage and Screen,” which appeared in the fall 2021 issue of Le Forum, the quarterly publication of the Franco-American Centre (University of Maine). The article later appeared here and provides context for the present post. A condensed, French-language version of this post […]
Continue readingFrench-Canadian Celebrations: March to October
In December, we learned about Pamphile LeMay’s Fêtes et Corvées, an overview of celebrations and rituals in Quebec at the end of the nineteenth century. That blog post focused on winter holidays. This time, we turn to spring, summer, and fall traditions which, year after year, marked the rhythm of life in rural French Canada. […]
Continue readingA Brawl in Saint-Michel
They weren’t ten feet tall. In the midst of dissertation research, I stumbled across words to that effect. In an interview, John F. Kennedy reflected on the men who had preceded him in the White House, particularly Franklin Roosevelt, who now seemed larger than life. Hindsight had enlarged them. In truth, Kennedy stated, they were […]
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 readingA French-Canadian House in 1815
Marie Mainville’s family may have had some notoriety in Saint-Ours, the Richelieu parish where she grew up. Her father, baptized Jean Baptiste but known in adult life as Charles, had acquired minor infamy for his role in the Continental Army’s occupation of Quebec. He served as a scout for the insurgents and British authorities imprisoned […]
Continue reading