Wm. Grant, the Receiver-General of the
Province of Quebec, who lived at St. Rochs, and died there in 1805.
On M. P. Cousin's plan of Quebec, published in 1875, parallel to St.
Vallier street to the south, and St. Fleurie street to the north, halfway
between, is laid down Baronne street. The most ancient highway of the
quarter (St. Roch) is probably St. Vallier street. "Desfosses" street most
likely derives its name from the ditches (fosses) which served to
drain the green pastures of La Vacherie. The old Bridge street dates
from the end of the last century (1789). "Dorchester" street recalls
the esteemed and popular administrator, Lord Dorchester, who, under the
name of Guy Carleton, led on to victory the militia of Quebec in 1775.
"Craig" street received its name from Sir John Craig, a gouty, testy, but
trusty old soldier, who administered the Government in 1807-9-10; it was
enlarged and widened ten feet, after the great fire of 1845. The site of
St. Paul's Market was acquired from the Royal Ordnance, on 31st July,
1831.
A former Quebecer writes: -
OTTAWA, 17th May, 1876.
"At the beginning of this century only eighty square-rigged vessels
entered the Port of Quebec. There were then in Quebec only nine
importers, and half a dozen master mechanics, one shipyard (John
Black's, where one ship was launched each year), one printing office
and one weekly paper.
"The tide then washed the rear walls of the houses on the north part
of Sault-au-Matelot street. The only deep water wharves were Dunieres,
afterwards Brebaut's, Johnson & Purss', and the King's Wharf. 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. Jacques
Cartier who, in 1535-6, wintered in the vicinity of Saint Roch, left his
name to an entire municipal division of this rich suburb, as well as to a
spacious market hall. (The Jacques Cartier Market Hall.) The first secular
priest, who landed in Quebec on the 8th August, 1634, and who closed his
days in the Hotel-Dieu on the 29th November, 1668, Jean le Sueur de Saint
Sauveur, left his name to what now constitutes the populous municipality
of Saint Sauveur. (Casgrain, Historie de l'Hotel-Dieu, p. 81.)
On the spot on which the General Hospital Convent was erected, in 1691,
the four first Franciscan Friars, Peres Jamay, D'Olbeau, LeCaron and Frere
Pacifique Du Plessis, who had landed at Quebec on the 2nd June, 1615, soon
set to work to erect the first Church, the first Convent and the first
Seminary in New France, and on the 3rd June, 1620, Father d'Olbeau, in the
absence of Father Jamay, the Superior of the Mission, placed the first
stone of the church, under the name of Notre Dame des Anges, on the
25th May, 1625.
