Category: Quebec History

Traveling with a Bishop in 1815, Part I

Four men joined the expedition—men of the cloth, all with a strong constitution, able to carry a heavy load of personal belongings, supplies, and religious items that would eventually fill up Quebeckers’ deep well of curse words. De Boucherville, Gaulin, Gauvreau, and Bolduc had as their esteemed companion and leader the bishop of Quebec, Joseph-Octave […]

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Farewell, Jerry

An earlier version of this essay appeared en français in the spring 2018 issue of Le Forum, the quarterly publication of the Franco-American Centre (University of Maine). *          *          * We stopped at Mountain View on a gloomy and intensely cold December day. Thanks to a volunteer who tends to the cemetery, we had at […]

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Franco-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 […]

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Jean 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 […]

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Jean 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 […]

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Franco-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 […]

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The Franco-American Origin Story in Parish Records

They went to Corbeau and Whitehall. They went to Vergennes and Highgate. They returned, and again to the Great Republic they went. This was a proto-industrial era, a time before ubiquitous factories, before national parishes, before the idea of Franco-America could form as something succinct and coherent. These were the early days of French Canadians’ […]

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French Canadians and the Epidemic of 1885

After drafting this post, I learned that James Myall (Parlez-Vous American) will be discussing disease and public health in connection with French-Canadian migrations on April 28. His talk will be carried on Zoom thanks to the Franco-American Centre at the University of Maine. Worth checking out I’m sure! Last week, on HistoireEngagée.ca, I contributed, en […]

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The Hero They Needed: Edmond Mallet

Thousands of French Canadians crossed the international border and served with distinction in the Union armies during the U.S. Civil War. Some of them went on to achieve more than passing historical fame. Rémi Tremblay survived incarceration in a Confederate prison and spent years in Woonsocket and Fall River. In the latter place, in 1885-1886, […]

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