- "The First Physician Who Entered Quebec Narrowly Escaped
Being Hung," Says Dr. LaRue.
"I said that he had narrowly escaped the
gallows; had he been hung I would not say it.
It occurred thus: - Champlain
had just landed in the Lower Town and had laid the foundation of his
abode, when some of his followers hatched a plot against his life. The
scheme leaked out, the ring leader was arraigned, found guilty and hung;
so far as I know, this was the first execution which took place in Canada.
Some how or other, Surgeon Bonnerme, one of Champlain's followers, was
mixed up in the matter, imprisoned, but his innocence having shortly after
been established, he was acquitted. Dr Bonnerme died the following year
(1609) at Quebec, of scurvy. If Bonnerme was the first physician who came
to Quebec, he was not, for all that, the first medical man who landed in
New France; another had preceded him: Louis Hebert, the first citizen of
Quebec and of all Canada. Before Hebert's day the French who came to
Quebec came there for no other object than barter, hunting and fishing;
none had thought of settling permanently there. Louis Hebert was the first
proprietor in Quebec, the first land owner in Canada; as such, historians
recognize him as the first Citizen of Quebec - the first Canadian: a
surgeon, let us bear in mind. Louis Hebert visited New France in 1606, two
years before the foundation of Quebec. He spent the winter of 1606-7 - a
merry one - at Port Royal, Acadia, in the company of Samuel de Champlain
and Lescarbot. Lescarbot was the first lawyer who found his way to New
France; Lescarbot was the first historian of the country; he was gifted
with wit - a proclivity to mild satire; each page of his history reveals
the lawyer familiar with the Bar and its lively forensic display. The
winter of 1606-7, at Port Royal, was remarkable for good cheer; appetising
repasts, the product of the chase or of the sea, were the order of the day
to that extent that Lescarbot declared that Port Royal fare was as
recherche as that of Rue aux Ours, in Paris - apparently the "Palais
Royal" of the French capital in those times. The third or fourth physician
of New France was Robert Giffard, Seignior of Beauport, who also was the
first settler in that parish; not only was Giffard the first resident of
Beauport, but, I have reason to believe, he was also the first settler -
habitant - of the rural districts in Canada. Thus, the first citizen of
all Canada would appear to have been a physician; thus, after Champlain
the two founders of the colony would have been physicians. Giffard's Lodge
was situated on some portion of Col. Gugy's farm; the leading families of
Canada look to Giffard as one of their progenitors; Archbishop Taschereau
is one of his descendants.
"The first Royal Notary - Notaire Royal - of Canada was M. Audouard, whose
first minute rests in the vaults of the Prothonotary of Quebec. But two
deeds at least had been executed before this first minute. The deed of
partage of the Hebert family (1634), and the last will of Champlain
(1635). These two instruments were executed before Metres Duchaine and De
la Ville, greffiers; the greffiers were Notaires also. Another fact
worthy of note is that the first time a Notary's services were put in
requisition was at the instance of the heirs of Hebert, the physician." -
Morning Chronicle, 12th April, 1881.
[69] Chansons populaires du Canada, &c., par Ernest Gagnon, 1865.
[70] The father of French-Canadian history; born in 1809, died in 1866.
[71] The tablet on his monument, in Mount Hermon Cemetery, bears the
following inscription: -
IN MEMORY OF ROBERT CHRISTIE, ESQ.
A native of Nova Scotia, he early adopted Canada as his country, and
during a long life faithfully served her. In the War in 1812 as a Captain,
4th Batt., he defended her frontier; in peace, during upwards of 30 years,
he watched over her interests as member of Parliament for the County of
Gaspe; and in the retirement of his later years recorded her annals as her
historian.
He died at Quebec on the 13th October, 1856, aged 68, leaving behind him
the memory of a pure career and incorruptible character.
Integer vitae scelerisque purus.
The inscription, which we think worthy of commendation for the chasteness
and conciseness of its style, is from the pen of (the late) J. B. Parkin,
Esq., advocate, of this city; the most lasting monument, however, of the
honoured deceased is that which was the product of his own brain, his
History of Canada. This work is unfortunately incomplete, though the
materials of a posthumous volume are still extant; but it is to be
regretted that Mr. Christie's widow has been robbed, and that by the hand
of no common thief, of some most important documents collected by and
belonging to her late husband - Quebec Mercury, 5th Nov., 1859.
[72] Opposite to Mr. Narcisse Turcotte, jeweller, on Mountain Hill.
[73] The Basilica Minor, or Roman Catholic Parish Church, built in 1647,
restored after the siege of 1759, was consecrated by Bishop Laval on the
18th July, 1666, under the name of the Church of the Immaculate
Conception. It is the oldest church in North America. Its length is 216
feet by 108 in breadth, and is capable of containing a congregation of
4,000 persons. "It originated in a gift, in 1644, on the part of Couillard
and Guillemette Hebert, his wife, of 80 perches of land in superficies,
for a parish church, on condition on the part of the Fabrique, or
church authorities, that they would furnish a pew in perpetuity in said
church for them and their successors, on their paying them a sum of 30
livres, tournois, at each mutation. The Church was begun in 1644
and 1645, on this spot, out of collections made in the years 1643 and 1644
together, until the price for which were sold 1,270 beaver skins - worth
about 8,000 livres - was given by the Quebec merchants.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 213 of 231
Words from 217805 to 218827
of 236821
