There
were no dwelling houses beyond Dunieres' Wharf, but a few huts were
built at the base of the cape. A black man was the solitary inhabitant
on the beach, and all the way to Sillery the woods extended to the
water's edge. A lease of this beach might then have been obtained for
L50 a year.
"In St. Roch's Suburbs there was no house beyond the Manor House near
the Intendant's Palace, save a few straggling ones in St. Vallier and
St. Roch's streets. The site of the present Parish of St. Roch was
mostly occupied by Grant's Mills, by meadows and farms.
"In St. John Suburbs there were only a few houses on St. John and St.
George's streets and St. Louis Suburbs which, in 1775, contributed but
three militia-men, viz - Jean Dobin, gardener, Jos. Proveau, carter,
and Jacques Dion, mason, could boast of only one house, and the
nearest one to it was Powell Place, Spencer Wood.
"On the St. Foy Road there was no house beyond the mineral well in St.
John Suburbs, until you came to the Haut Bijou - Mr. Stewart's. The
population of the city was then estimated at 12,000.
"I wonder if your friend Col. Strange is aware that his old friend
Sergt. Hugh McQuarters, of 1775 fame, was led captive to Hymen's altar
by the winning smiles and bright eyes of a belle Canadienne,
Mam'selle Victoire Frechette. She died on the 12th October, 1812.
"Not having seen a copy of the address of Henri Taschereau, Esq., M.P.
before the Canadian Institute on the American Invasion of '75, I am
not aware if he alluded to the facet that Captain and Paymaster
Gabriel Elzear Taschereau took part in the 'l'affaire du Sault-au-
Matelot.'
"Thus, by degrees, you see some little odds and ends of Quebec history
are coming to light.
"I remain, "(Signed,) C. J. O'LEARY.
"J. M. LEMOINE, Esq."
In the present day the prolongation of the wharf has left no trace of it;
the Station of the North Shore Railway covers a portion of this area.
"Church" street (la rue de l'Eglise), doubtless owes its name to the
erection of the beautiful Saint Roch Church, towards 1812, the site of
which was given by the late Honorable John Mure, who died in Scotland in
1823.
Saint Roch, like the Upper Town, comprises several Fiefs, proceeding
from the Fief of the Seminary and reaching as far as the Gas Wharf; the
beaches with the right of fishing belonged originally to the Hotel-Dieu
by a concession dated the 31st March, 1648, but they have since been
conceded to others. The Crown possesses an important reserve towards the
west of this grant; then comes the grant made, in 1814 or 1815, to the
heirs of William Grant, now occupied by several ship-yards.
