This Apparently Improbable Fact Will,
However, Appear Less Extraordinary When It Is Known That He Was A Sea-
Faring Man; And When It Is Considered How Close Was The Alliance And
How Frequent The Intercourse Which, For Centuries Before That Period,
Had Subsisted Between France And Scotland.
"This individual, whose name was Abraham Martin, is described in a
legal document, dated the 15th August, 1646, and
Preserved among the
archives of the Bishop's Palace, at Quebec, as (the King's) Pilot of
the St. Lawrence; an appointment which probably conferred on its
possessor considerable official rank; for we find that Jacques
Quartier, or Cartier, the enterprising discoverer and explorer of the
St. Lawrence, when about to proceed in 1540, on his third voyage to
Canada, was appointed by Francis I, Captain General and Master Pilot
of the expedition which consisted of four vessels.
"That Martin was a person of considerable importance in the then
infant colony of New France may also be inferred from the fact that,
in the journal of the Jesuits and in the parish register of Quebec, he
is usually designated by his Christian name only, Maitre Abraham; as
well as from the circumstance of Champlain, the distinguished founder
of Quebec and father of New France, having been god-father to one of
Abraham's daughters (Helene) and of Charles de St. Etienne, Sieur de
la Tour, of Acadian celebrity, having stood in the same relation to
Martin's youngest son, Charles Amador.
"The earliest mention of Martin's name occurs in the first entry of
the parish register of Quebec, viz., on, the 24th of October, 1621;
when his son Eustache, who died shortly afterwards, was baptized by
father Denis, a Franciscan Friar. The second baptism therein recorded
is that of his daughter Marguerite, which took place in 1624; and it
is stated in the register that these children were born of the
legitimate marriage of Abraham Martin surnamed or usually known as
the Scot ("dict l'Ecossois.") Their family was numerous; besides
Anne and other children previously to the opening of the register in
1621, the baptism of the following are therein recorded: -
who was the second Canadian raised to the priesthood, and became a
canon at the erection of the chapter of Quebec."
As the reader will observe there is nothing to connect the Plains with
that of the patriarch of Genesis. Nay, though our Scotch friend owned a
family patriarchal in extent, on referring to The Jesuits' Journal we
find, we regret to way, at page 120 an Entry, according to which the
"Ancient Mariner" seems to have been very summarily dealt with; in fact
committed to prison for a delinquency involving the grossest immorality.
The appellation of Plains of Abraham was formerly given by our historians
to that extensive plateau stretching from the city walls to the Sillery
Wood, bounded to the north by the heights of land overhanging the valley
of the St. Charles, and to the south by the coin du cap overlooking
the St. Lawrence, whose many indentures form coves or timber berths, for
storing square timber, &c., studded with deep water wharves.
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