To paraphrase Karl Rove, They say they are all gone now. They are not. The past is forever speaking to us, and it speaks in many voices. The previous generations endured much to carve a pathway to the future. We are that future.
One could write a book about the founding of Canada and indeed many have been written. However, our main interest is in highlighting the lives of our descendants who were a part of that history. Nevertheless one cannot give the appreciation for our forbears without an understanding of the forces at work as they came to the New World and the impact it had on them and indeed their impact on that land.
It was an Italian named Giovanni Caboto who sailed for England as John Cabot who first claimed Newfoundland for England in 1497, just a few years after the voyage of Christopher Columbus. In ensuing years, other ships may have come to shore as fisherman harvested the rich schools of fish in the Grand Banks, but no colonies or permanent settlements were formed.
In the 1530’s Jacques Cartier claimed the St. Lawrence River and the present Maritimes area for France. Like many before and after him he was seeking the elusive route to China. He made three trips to present day Canada penetrating as far as present day Montreal. He was mesmerized by the tales of diamonds and gold spun by the natives. The natives great treasures to the West tales were to be foisted on many an eager explorer for the next centuries. One wonders if this was a defined plot or just a way for these tribes to have some good natured fun on the gullible newcomers. On Cartier’s last voyage, he was to help colonist coming to settle in Quebec City. He ultimately decided to abandon them before they even got to Quebec. He wanted to take his “gold and diamonds” to England quickly. He left the colonist in Newfoundland where they ultimately stayed for the winter and then returned to France after experiencing the harsh Canadian season. Cartier’s treasures where nothing more than “fools gold”. However, a trade opportunity in furs was recognized for the Europeans and tools, metal wares, and later guns and alcohol for the natives.
In 1603 Samuel de Champlain began exploring North America and founded the city of Quebec (1608). He continued to explore the Atlantic coast and the Great Lakes. In 1620 he was made the de facto governor of New France. Quebec became a hub of fur trade and a minor colony existed but population was slow to grow. Population in 1608 was 28, 60 in 1616, and 116 in 1639. In 1629, Charles I of England enlisted the Kirke Brothers to displace the French. They attached and surrounded the small contingent at Quebec City. Champlain was forced to surrender on July 29, 1629 and he and almost all of the remaining French returned to France. As a part of the settlement of the Anglo-French War 1627-1629 which itself was part of the Thirty Years War, another complicated war between the countries of Europe and France and England. In 1632 The Treaty of SaintGermain-en-Layea gave Quebec, Acacia, and Breton Island back to the French.
Once again Champlain returned to Quebec as its Governor. However, Champlain’s health was failing and he was forced to resign in 1633 and died Christmas day 1635.
It is in this resettling of Quebec that the earliest of the Speare forbears makes their appearance in Quebec City. Jean Cote and Ann Martin arrive in 1635.
From the Perche area of Normandy, Jean Cote accepted an offer from a man now considered the first seigneur in Quebec, Robert Giffard. Jean was a farm laborer or gardener. We can assume that Jean was expected to work for Giffard for a fixed period of time in exchange for his passage and upkeep. This type of agreement was not unusual and typically had a fixed period of time of five years. At the end of the agreement livestock, land, or something else might be awarded to the worker. He could be free to stay or return to France.
The evidence is not clear about exactly who Ann Martin was. Some suggestions are the she was the daughter of Abraham Martin for who the Plains of Abraham were named and his wife Marguerite Langlois. Others claim she was not. The consensus is that she was not the daughter of Abraham. Records do indicate she was born in France in 1621. Whatever Ann’s parentage, she is definitely in our family line through here marriage to Jean Cote.
Jean Cote became the owner of a house situated near the present corner of Tresor Street and Baude St. in Quebec City. Today this alley is home to an artist venue selling to tourists.
Meanwhile the French and English continued their vying for world dominance with North America being just another venue. The English were colonizing the east coast and adding substantially to that population. Meanwhile New France continued to be made up of men engaged in trading mostly furs with the natives. Not to be overlooked is the fact that France considered its dominion in North America to extend to all of the Great Lakes and down to Louisiana in addition to most of present day Canada. There is too much to this history to be covered here but in time France realized they were losing the population battle to the English. The English colonist were continually pressing West into what the French were their lands. This tension ultimately resulted in the The Battle of Jumonville in Western Pennsylvania lead on the British side by a young George Washington in May of 1754. This battle is often cited as the beginning of the French and Indian Wars that was the American theater of the larger Seven Years War between France and Britain. This war culminated in the loss of Quebec by the French at the Plains of Abraham in 1759 and the surrender of Montreal in 1760 with the subsequent loss of most of the Great Lakes area and all of Canada by the French.
But we are getting ahead of our story. To regress, the French government eventually realized that serious population growth was not going to happen in New France on its own. In 1663 King Louis XIV made New France a crown colony with Quebec becoming a royal province. A royal governor or Intendant would replace private interests in governing Quebec.
At that time men outnumbered women in Quebec by 6 to 1. Finally realizing it took men and “women” to increase the population, the government put forth a program to promote the settlement of his colony in Canada. These women came to be known as the Filles du Roi (Daughters of the King). Between 1663 and 1673 some 737 of these women married and the resultant population explosion gave rise to the success of the colony. Most of the millions of people of French Canadian descent today, both in Quebec and the rest of Canada and the USA (and beyond!), are descendants of one or more of these courageous women of the 17th century. These women were under the financial sponsorship of King Louis XIV of France. Most were single French women and many were orphans. Their transportation to Canada and settlement in the colony were paid for by the King. Some were given a royal gift of a dowry of 50 livres for their marriage to one of the many unmarried male colonists in Canada. These gifts are reflected in some of the marriage contracts entered into by the Filles at the time of their first marriages. Half of the women came from the Parisian orphanage L’Hopital General, the others from other orphanages or from homes too poor to have a dowry. False stories abound that these women were prostitutes or stricken street people, but the reality was that many had a rudimentary education in their orphanage, and while not formally educated, they quickly understood nursing, motherhood, child-rearing, and survival basics, and so their contributions are still beyond measurement. It should be noted that between 1660-1670, Europe was experiencing another one its rounds of bubonic plague which certainly helped fuel the orphanage population. Records show that one of our “Daughters” (Catherine Paulo) parents both died in 1663. By the end of that year Catherine was in Montreal marrying Etienne (Stephen) Campeau.
It was not what the Filles were or what they possessed, but rather what they were not. They were not privileged ladies of the courts or from upper/middle class backgrounds. They intimately knew the realities of hardship, hard work, and of being unfortunate. The dowries provided by the king injected valuable economic assistance at the family level. Their arrival and presence was exactly what Quebec needed, and a baby boom of unprecedented proportion followed. By 1677, the population more than doubled. Fifteen years after Canada’s first census, the genders were about even in number, and the Filles du Roi were as close to a perfect solution to a problem as there ever was in history. Catherine and Etienne did there share. They had 15 children and in 1729 there were 194 descendants. Similarly, Marguerite Moitie and Joseph-Elie Gauthier (Carbary forebears) had 12 children and 152 descendants in 1729.
We should pause here and reflect on these women. One does not get on a ship of 1600’s vintage and endure a very hazardous sea voyage of 6-8 weeks to a foreign land with a harsh climate to perhaps meet a rugged backwoods trapper or farmer lightly. Histories migrations are driven by either push or pull. They are being pushed because their current situation is probably desperate or being pulled because there is a chance that an opportunity for a better life. I suspect there was a bit of both reasons. The men and women who settled early New France were brave and courageous peoples taking a chance on a better life. We cannot help being in awe of them and other immigrants in our families. We thank and honor them.
In time our family’s geographic focus left the base of Quebec City and Montreal and came to what is now the Detroit, Michigan and Windsor, Ontario area. It wasn’t until the 1800’s that the national separation across the Detroit River took place. Detroit was founded in 1701. Our families played a part in the settling of these areas from the very early days.
Historical events continued to have an impact on our ancestral families. Through most of this time present day Quebec, Ontario, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Wisconsin, and New England where in play as areas of conflict. The conflicts were of many folds. In the big picture it was about the rivalry between France and England for not only North American but European and indeed world dominance. Into the mix were conflicts between Native American tribes and how they and the French and English played each other in war and diplomacy to serve their individual goals. For simplicity we will refer to the Indigenous peoples as Ottawa and Iroquois. In fact, these two were distinct but typically associated with a large number of other tribes. However, each of them tended to be the leaders.
The major wars between France and England were King Williams War (1689-1697), Queen Anne’s War (1702-1713), King George’s War (1744-1745) and the culmination of North America conflicts with the French & Indian (Seven Years War) War (1754-1763).
Following two decades of uneasy peace, Britain and France declared war against one another in 1689. Despite the 1669 Treaty of Whitehall, in which European forces agreed that Continental conflicts would not disrupt colonial peace and neutrality. The war was fought primarily by proxy in New France and New England. In addition to the European impact of this and other wars was the struggle to control the fur trade which was incredibly lucrative. The British of New York prompted local Iroquois warriors to attack New France’s undefended settlements. While the British were preparing to engage in acts of warfare, the inhabitants of New France were ill prepared to defend against the Indian attacks” due to the isolation of the farms and villages. Demonville was quoted as saying “If we have a war, nothing can save the country (Canada) but a miracle of God”. On the rainy morning of August 5, 1689, Iroquois warriors used surprise to launch their nighttime raid against the undefended settlement of Lachine. They traveled up the Saint Lawrence River by boat, crossed Lake Saint-Louis, and landed on the south shore of Montreal Island. While the colonists slept, the invaders surrounded their homes and waited for their leader to signal when the attack should begin. They attacked the homes, breaking down doors and windows, and dragging the colonists outside, where many were killed. When some of the colonists barricaded themselves within the village’s structures, the attackers set fire to the buildings and waited for the settlers to flee the flames. According to a 1992 article, the Iroquois, wielding weapons such as the tomahawk, killed 24 French and took more than 70 prisoners. Other sources, such as Encyclopedia Britannica, claim that 250 settlers and soldiers lost their lives during the “Massacre.” The Iroquois wanted to avenge the 1,200,000 bushels of corn burned by the French, but since they were unable to reach the food stores in Montreal, they kidnapped and killed the Lachine crop producers instead. Lachine was the main departure point for westward-traveling fur traders, which may have provided extra motivation for the Mohawk attack. Some of our ancestors lived in Lachine and participated in the defense during these attacks.
In 1701, what became called The Great Peace of Montreal; thirty Indian nations sent a total of 1300 delegates to discuss over several weeks, at great expense to the French hosts, terms of collective action. The Iroquois protocol of the condolence ceremony, the exchange of gifts and the exchange of prisoners preceded the solemn “signing” of accords, whereby the several nations undertook to remain at peace with each other.
The Iroquois League undertook to remain neutral in the event of a war between England and France. All agreed that in the event of disputes among them they would resort to the governor general of New France to mediate their differences. This in fact recognized a special kinship relationship with the French. The Montréal peace accord assured France superiority in dealing with native issues and freedom to expand its military presence on the continent during the next half century. The Iroquois were an aggressive tribal group primarily based in New York that were constantly intercepting a harassing fur trade along the Lake Ontario corridor as well as the settlements on the north shore of the St. Lawrence River. The fur trade route for the French necessitated traveling via Montreal and the portage to the Ottawa River and eventually to Lake Huron. This encompassed 12-14 portages. This treaty was helpful in the founding of Detroit under Cadillac in 1701 as it lessened the chances of Iroquois attacks. It also changed the routing of fur trade as it could now travel via Lake Ontario to Lake Erie and then Detroit which needed only one portage at the Niagara River. It also allowed the French to trade directly with other tribal groups in Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin who previously used the Ottawa. The Ottawa’s were based in the Mackinaw region and functioned as a broker of the other tribe’s furs. Much has been written on the dynamics of this fur trade and its implication on our ancestors.
In 1749, under the encouragement of the French-Canadian government, the south shore of the Detroit River was offered for settlement. The immigrants were largely farmers and offered supplies and land to settle and cultivate the land. Many of our family ancestors took advantage of this opportunity.
In 1754, the Seven Years War broke out. The Seven Years’ War was a world war with, the main conflict occurring in the seven-year period from 1756 to 1763. It involved every European great power of the time except the Ottoman Empire, spanning five continents, and affected Europe, the Americas, West Africa, India, and the Philippines. The conflict split Europe into two coalitions, led by Great Britain on one side and France on the other. For the first time, aiming to curtail Britain and Prussia‘s ever-growing might, France formed a grand coalition of its own, which ended with failure as Britain rose as the world’s predominant power, altering the European balance of power. Many say that this war was sparked by George Washington at the battle of Jumonville Glen. Horace Walpole is quoted as saying “The volley fired by a young Virginian in the backwoods of America set the world on fire.”
The culmination of that war in North America was the French defeat on the Plains of Abraham at Quebec City in 1759 and the surrender of Montreal in 1760. A peace treaty ended the war in 1763 and effectively ended the French holdings from the Gulf of the St. Lawrence to the Mississippi River. In 1764 the British signed a treaty giving the remaining French residents the right to continue to preserve their rights and Roman Catholic religious practice. Largely because of this the remaining French offered no real support for their neighbors to the south during the American Revolution. The Americans tried numerous times to invade Canada during the Revolution and the War of 1812 in what they perceived to be a yearning of the Canadians to break free of Britain and join the US. How wrong they were. In both conflicts the Canadians resisted and to this day proudly boast of the resistance and in their telling defeat of their southerly neighbors.
After the defeat of the French, some native tribes rebelled at the takeover by the British and what they saw as the abandonment by the French. It was known as Pontiac’s rebellion. This resulted in many deaths among isolated settlements and even the siege of the Fort at Detroit. In time this rebellion lost steam as the natives realized the French could not and would not offer support. Pontiac was murdered on April 20, 1769, near the French town of Cahokia
When the British took over Ontario and the Detroit area, many people had to prove their rights to the land they owned or farmed. This was true of many of our ancestors, especially those living on the South shore.
When the War of 1812 was fought, the Detroit area was a hotbed of military activity. The British with their Indian allies captured Detroit. Records show that some Drouillard’s acted as interpreters to the natives for the benefit of the British authorities.
Finally peace seemed to come to these two countries following the 1812 War. In 1818, the Rush-Bagot Treaty basically demilitarized the Great Lake and border between the US and Canada. Today, this remains the longest undefended border between two countries in the World. Long may it remain so?
While peace finally came to the US and Canada, the dangers of living continued. The Detroit and Windsor area suffered serious outbreaks of cholera in 1832, 1834, 1849 and 1854.
It is not my intention to recount the complex history of the battles between the French, British, natives, and ultimately the newly formed United States; I would encourage independent reading on these subjects. Many years ago there was a television program called “You are there”. It attempted to recreate significant moments in history as if we were present. Of course, we cannot be there but at least for those moments in the creation of two countries, our relatives were.