One particular claim to fame dominates the history of St. Albans, Vermont: the Confederate raid on local banks that was staged from Canadian soil in 1864. Other events that truly made the city remain little known to outsiders, as is the history of the region as a whole. The Confederate raid at least has the […]
Continue readingCategory: French Canada
“This province is your country”: Understanding the Acadian Deportation
In all the said places and colonies to be yielded and restored by the most Christian King [Louis XIV], in pursuance of this treaty, the subjects of the said King may have liberty to remove themselves, within a year, to any other place. . . But those who are willing to remain there, and to […]
Continue readingTraveling with a Bishop in 1815, Part II
See Part I here. His arduous journey was still far from over as Bishop Plessis definitively left Halifax on July 27. A carriage provided by a Mr. Conroy took them overland to Windsor, a town with a small estuary opening on the Bay of Fundy. Plessis seemed startled to find a good number of Black […]
Continue readingFranco-American Clippings
I never tire of jumping into newspaper archives in search of one item, only to find something far more eye-opening, or intriguing, or informative. I am always happy to share those findings, but seldom do my press clippings fit in perfectly with one of my regular blog posts. Since the beginning of the year I […]
Continue readingJean Rivard: American and Catholic
See Part I here. Themes In my edition of Jean Rivard, the editor establishes the influence of Don Quixote and Robinson Crusoe on Gérin-Lajoie’s novel. But the parallels that struck me first and foremost—parallels that will be familiar to American readers—involve Walden and Horatio Alger novels. Both Henry David Thoreau and Rivard go into the […]
Continue readingJean Rivard: A Pioneering Novel
How easily we overlook what was happening in Lower Canada in the early 1860s. While bloody conflict wrecked Mexico, the American giant was embroiled in a devastating civil war that would claim 700,000 lives and lead to “a new birth of freedom.” For a time, it seemed that the winds of war would sweep over […]
Continue readingFranco-American History in Ten Documents, Part II
See the first installment on important Franco-American documents here. A Man and His Dream (1909) Félix Albert had a tale to tell—with some false modesty, his own. In the early twentieth century, after a turbulent life, he had someone, perhaps a local priest, write down his experience as an immigrant and a man of many […]
Continue readingFranco-American History in Ten Documents, Part I
No history as rich and complex as that of Franco-Americans can be reduced to small vignettes. But what would a survey of iconic Franco-American documents and moments—perhaps destined to a neophyte—would look like? As a fun experiment, I propose the following. It is hoped that these texts (some well-known, some less so) will encourage readers […]
Continue readingThose Fractious Francos (Part II)
Disunity and Discontent See Part I here. “I am full of grief,” Jacques Rouse declared, “that so few Frenchmen as we are here, we cannot live in concord together.” How often have we heard this story of the factious (or fractious) French Canadians? How often have we experienced it? French Canadians in Quebec failed to […]
Continue readingThose Fractious Francos (Part I)
Dueling Francos The battles were over. The fighting had ceased. But, while men might lay down their arms, often the war does not leave them. Trauma is not easily cast aside; invisible wounds remain. By 1792, the French-Canadian veterans of the Continental Army had not seen a battlefield in over a decade. But since those […]
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