BOISVERT HISTORY

Saint-Pierre-de-la-Rivière-du-Sud is one of the oldest parishes in Cote-du-Sud. Founded in 1713 by the religious authorities and then civilly recognized in 1722, this small farming village takes its name from Brian White, donor of the land on which was built the first church in 1713. It is situated at this time north of the river.

After the erection of a second church on the same site, Monsignor Briand, bishop of Quebec, requires the construction of a third church more spacious, south of the river to facilitate the religious practices of people residing on this bank who could not go to church spring floods. The relocation of the church in 1785 began the shift in the centre of the village, which redraws the landscape of Saint-Pierre. The people gradually left the river-du-Sud to settle on the top of hills.

Creuseurs wells, the hard work of farmers and maple syrup producers contribute significantly to the economic development of the municipality. Today, the people of Saint-Pierre has about 900 inhabitants.

For more information go to: Saint-Pierre-de-la-Rivière-du-Sud

The causes of the American declaration of war against Great Britain on June 18, 1812 related to events far removed from Upper Canada geographically. Geography, however, determined that Upper Canada would be the primary battleground of the war. The long conflict between Britain and France from the French Revolution through the reign of Napoleon was fought to a great extent as an economic war. Britain and France attempted to interfere with the trade of neutrals, including the United States, that was deemed to benefit the enemy.

Britain issued Orders-in-Council which forbade trade through European ports under French control while France issued the Milan Decrees which outlawed trade with Britain.

The trade dispute with Britain was heightened by the policy of stopping American vessels and removing any crewmembers believed to be deserters from the Royal Navy. Further, there were several naval incidents in the decade before 1812 which brought the two countries near war.

For more information go to: The War of 1812

The French Revolution (1789–1799) was a period of political and social upheaval in the political history of France and Europe as a whole, during which the French governmental structure, previously an absolute monarchy with feudal privileges for the aristocracy and Catholic clergy, underwent radical change to forms based on Enlightenment principles of nationalism, citizenship, and inalienable rights.

These changes were accompanied by violent turmoil, including executions and repression during the Reign of Terror, and warfare involving every other major European power. Subsequent events caused by the revolution include the Napoleonic wars, the restoration of the monarchy, and two additional revolutions as modern France took shape.

In the following century, France would be governed variously as a republic, a dictatorship, a constitutional monarchy, and two different empires.

For more information go to Links on the French Revolution

Tuberculosis was called the “White Plague” or the “Peoples Plague”, it reached epidemic proportions in the 1870’s and‘80s. Also called Consumption, a person would start coughing, at first intermittently, then constantly, coughing up phlegm, or blood streaked sputum, until he hemorrahaged and coughed up pure blood. His lungs were actually dissolving. He would develop a daily fever, tire easily and lose weight.

Often he would experience chest pain as the membranes around the lungs were affected. If untreated, truberculosis could spread to other parts of the body, to the bloodstream, the intestines or the bones and joints. Eventually, he died from lack of food, water, or by drowning in his own body fluids.

There were many treatments tried over time. Rest, living underground, drinking fresh milk. Some advised inactivity, some exercise. Some advocated sea air, mountain air, cold air, warm air or sunlight. Arsenic, creosote, gold and copper salts were all prescribed for patients. While some managed to recover, countless others continued to die.

Turberculosis became identified with the poor, especially those living crowded together in cities where air and water were tainted, ventilation poor, buildings neglected by landloards and living conditions generally unsanitary. Turberculosis, a contagious, airborne disease thrived in the immigrant neighborhoods of American cities, and it was well into the 20th century before science had caught up to the disease.

The American Revolution is one of Canada’s least-known, most important wars. For most Canadians, the revolution is something that happened somewhere else, south of the border. Yet without the events that happened around the St. Lawrence River, the Canada we know today might not exist. The Canadian victory at the siege of Quebec in 1775–1776 saved Canada from conquest and incorporation into the new United States. Loyalist refugees added a significant English-speaking element to the population and led to the creation of the provinces of Upper Canada (Ontario) and New Brunswick. In 1867, the British colonies that rejected the American Revolution came together to form the Dominion of Canada.

For more information go to:WarMuseum.ca

During Charles’ mid-twenties, there was constant turmoil between England, France, the Native Americans and emerging 13 colonies of America. Most of the American Revolution did not involve Canada, except for British troop movement.

Most French Canadians want no part of this English family squabble over power. Most refused to take up arms; no more than 600 French Canadians in all of Quebec were prepared to support the British English from the American English.

The one exception of conflict was in 1775. When the American army tried to threaten British control of Canada by attacking Quebec. While General Washington with the Continental Army was blockading Boston, Brigadier Richard Montgomery led an attack up the Lake Champlain route into Canada while Major General Benedict Arnold took his force across country through Maine. The purpose of the invasion of Canada was in part to bring the Canadian population into the war on the American side.

Fort St John and Montreal were captured by the Americans. In late October 1775 Arnold arrived on Point Levis across the St Lawrence from Quebec, having lost a substantial part of his force on the punishing journey from New England. On November 13, General Montgomery brought 300 men up the St.Lawrence, past the town of Lotbiniére where Charles and his family farmed. British Colonel Allen Maclean, hearing of Arnold’s arrival, force marched his recruits from Sorel to Quebec, being joined later by Carleton.
Sorel to Quebec is about a 120 mile journey up the St. Lawrence River. Colonel Allen MacLeans 1,200 men would have traveled by Alexis, now 60 and his family. Charles would have been 25 and more apt to join the battle. Question is, what side did our ancestors favour, if any?

On 13th November 1775, Arnold took his force across the St Lawrence, climbed onto the Plains of Abraham and summoned the garrison to surrender or come out and fight. The garrison did neither. Arnold launched a night attack that was beaten back.

On 31st December 1775, with the addition of Montgomery’s troops, Arnold launched night attacks at either end of the city in a snowstorm. The garrison alerted by premature feint attacks on other parts of the city perimeter. Montgomery’s assault was repelled with heavy grapeshot and Montgomery was killed. Arnold’s attack penetrated the city wall but he was wounded. Maclean arrived from dealing with Montgomery’s assault and led the counter attack. The American troops who had penetrated the walls were captured and the assault was driven off.

The American army at Quebec suffered extremely as the winter was one of great severity. The English, having received reinforcements, on May 5th, 1776, the disastrous retreat began. The British pursued and burned homes of all the French who were even suspected of being rebels.

May 17th, the weary American army wandered back down the St. Lawrence, arriving back at Sorel. At this time, Charles and other French farmers would have heard the results and rumors of the attack on Quebec, from the retreating American army and attacking British.

For more information on the Revolutionary War go to www.ushistory.org

Cholera, acute infectious disease of the intestines, resulting from water contaminated by the bacterium Vibrio comma. It first reached Canada in 1832, brought by immigrants from Britain. Epidemics occurred in 1832, 1834, 1849, 1851, 1852 and 1854. There were cases in Halifax in 1881. The epidemics killed at least 20 000 people in Canada. Cholera was feared because it was deadly and no one understood how it spread or how to treat it. The death rate for untreated cases is extremely high. Grosse Île, near Québec, was opened in 1832 as a quarantine station and all ships stopped there for inspection.

During epidemics, individual towns attempted to quarantine themselves against the disease. When quarantine failed to stop the disease, public-health measures were taken by towns and provincial and colonial governments. The response to cholera encouraged governments to act to protect the health of Canadians and to provide for the sick. Not all the actions were popular and in some areas riots ensued, with crowds burning the cholera hospitals. Anger over cholera contributed to the antigovernment agitation in Lower Canada in the 1830s. Familiarity with the disease reduced the fear in later epidemics and a better understanding of how it spread made more effective prevention possible.

For More Information go to: Killer Cholera

The Mediterranean coast of Languedoc has been settled by the Greeks, Phoenicians and Romans, and invaded by the Alamanni, Vandals, Visigoths, and Saracens. Languedoc was known in the Middle Ages as the county of Toulouse, an independent county which was in theory part of the kingdom of France. In the 12th century, Languedoc was the center of the Cathar religious movement. The Roman Catholic Church declared them heretics, and the Albigensian Crusade wiped them out. As a consequence, the county of Toulouse was taken by the crown of France in 1271, (the county of Toulouse was a vassal of the crown of France, but had many connections with the Crown of Aragon, which included Catalonia) and has been part of France ever since. Later the name given to the area was Languedoc, literally meaning “language of oc”, from the word “yes” in the local Occitan language (”oc”, as opposed to “oïl”, later “oui”, in the north of France). The kings of France made Languedoc one of the provinces of the kingdom, and established the parlement of Languedoc in Toulouse. The parlement and the province were abolished at the time of the French Revolution, like all the other parlements and provinces of France.

Albi

The first known human settlement in Albi dates from the Bronze Age, but little remains from this period. After the Roman conquest of Gaul in 51 BC, the town became “Civitas Albigensium”, the territory of the Albigeois, “Albiga”. Archaeological digs have not revealed any traces of Roman buildings, suggesting that Albiga must have been a modest Romans settlement.

In 1035 - 1040, a bridge now known as the Pont Vieux (Old Bridge) was built. The city grew rich at this time, a result of the trade that the bridge brought, and also to the tolls charged for crossing it. The Pont Vieux is still in use today. Originally built in stone), then clad with brick, it rests on 8 arches and is 151m long. In the 14th century, it was fortified and provided with a drawbridge. Houses were built over the piers.

Albi gave its name to a religious group more commonly known as the Cathars. The Roman Catholic authorities seem to have believed, mistakenly, that Albi was the religion’s centre in the Languedoc and so called Cathar believers Albigoise or Albigensians. When Pope Innocent II launched a war on the people of the Languedoc and their rulers, including the Viscounts of Albi, it came to be known as the Albigensian Crusade.

After the upheaval of the Crusade against the Cathars, the bishop Bernard de Castanet, in the late 13th century, completed work on the Palais de la Berbie, the Bishops’ Palace. It has the look of a fortress. Bernard also commissioned the building of the cathedral of Sainte-Cécile starting in 1282. Its deliberate external austerity represents an attempt by the Catholic authorities to avoid ostentation, as it was known that people favoured the Cathar religion over the Catholic religion partially because of the Cathars’ austerity and asceticism

From 1450 to 1560, Albi enjoyed a period of prosperity largely due to the cultivation of Isatis Tinctoria a dark blue dye known in French as pastel, in English as woad and in Occitan as Cocanha. This was the original Land of cocanha, or Land of Cocaigne. Renaissance town houses in Albi of the bear witness to the fortunes amassed by the cocanha merchants. An historic area built around the cathedral and episcopal buildings covers 63 hectares. Red brick and tiles are the main feature of most of the buildings.

Among the monuments of the town is the Sainte Cécile cathedral, claimed to be the world’s largest brick construction. This monument is in the Southern Gothic style. La Cathédrale Sainte-Cécile d’Albi was constructed from 1282 to 1480. There is a strong contrast between its austere, defensive exterior and its sumptuous interior decoration. Built as an assertion of Catholic power after the upheavals of the wars against the people of the Languedoc (The “Albigensian Crusade”).

Lavaur

Lavaur was a Cathar Castle. There is very little remaining from Cathar times, castles or anything else. All of the main “Cathar Castles” advertised to tourists as romantic vestiges of the Cathar period are no such thing. They are generally castles built by the French after the Cathar Crusade, and used to defend their new border with Aragon. These castles were slighted, or left to decay, after the Treaty of the Pyrenees in the seventeenth century. The justification for the deceit is that they are often built on the site of earlier castles occupied by vassals and allies of the Counts of Toulouse during the Cathar period.

In 1180-1181, well before the Crusade against the Cathars, There was another military expedition, led by a Cistercian against the people of the Languedoc. Henry of Marcy, Abbot of Clairvaux had taken part in a failed mission to the Languedoc in 1178. A little later, as Cardinal-Bishop of Albano, he tried again. His failure as a preacher led to him head a military expedition against the territories of Roger II Trencavel, Viscount of Beziers, anticipating Arnaud Amaury, the Cistercian Abbot who lead the Albigensian Crusade. Commanding armed forces provided by Raymond V of Toulouse, Henry successfully took Lavour in 1181, forcing the submission of its lord and capturing two Cathar Parfaits.

A generation later in March 1211, during the wars against the Cathars of the Languedoc, Lavaur was besieged again, this time by Simon de Montfort. The town fell on 3rd of May, 1211, following which the French crusaders excelled even themselves in cruelty and disregard for the accepted rules of war. The head of the garrison, Aimeric-de-Montréal, was hanged along with his knights. His widowed sister, the chatelaine of Lavaur, Gerauda (or Geralda) de Lavaur, was brutally murdered.

Lotbinière belongs to the plateau that dominates the south flank of the St. Lawrence River, some fifty kilometres from Quebec City. Conceded to Seigneur Louis Chartier de Lotbinère in 1672 (whose descendant, Henry Gustave Joly-de-Lotbinière became Premier of Quebec in 1878-79), the village’s superb stone houses are dotted along the main street (route 132, or Marie Victorin), forming a rich ensemble of historical monuments protected by law. Examples include the Pagé House (1785) at 7482 Marie Victorin, the Bélanger House at 7661 Marie Victorin, the Chavigny-de-la-Chevrotière Manor at 7640 Marie Victorin, and the Moulin du Domaine 7218 Marie Victorin. The early nineteenth-century church, designed by the famous religious François Baillargé (as were the presbytery, cemetery and convent) is a magnificent architectural combination overlooking the river. Equally impressive is the quaint stone processional chapel located near the village exit.

St. Croix de Lotbiniere and St. Louis de Lotbiniere
At 50 km of the Quebec Bridges, there is Sainte-Croix de Lotbiniere village where Charles Boisverd and Marie-Anne Hamel were wed and resided. Sainte-Croix de Lotbinière is located on the shores of the St. Lawrence river and intersected by Rivière du Petit Saut.

For more information go to Lotbiniere, Quebec

Sometimes serene and gentle, sometimes ferocious and dangerous, the St. Lawrence is one of the world’s great rivers. It was a crucial artery for westward migration, commercial goods, and troop movements during several wars. It nourished a large French-speaking population in Quebec and served as a partial barrier between the U.S. and Canada who fought several wars for control of this vast northern region.

Without the St. Lawrence, the history of North America would be utterly different and impossible to ponder. The entire region at this time embraced an enormous tangle of swamps, forests, mountain ranges, and rugged, impassable land. The river cut through this dense wilderness joining huge land-locked lakes and made travel possible and thus inevitable. It enabled white settlers to decimate native populations and served as the central artery for bitter colonial and continental wars. Its shore became home to major cities and migrations that shape North America, and it all began not so very long ago during the last great glacial surge.

A vast resource

Unlike many of the world’s great rivers, the St. Lawrence has not changed greatly since forming after the ice ages. It has been a remarkably stable river over the centuries largely because it derives its source water from the Great Lakes whose vast expanses absorb periods of torrential rain, winter melt, and mitigate weather extremes such as drought.

The river includes its own broad lakes which distribute water over thousands of square miles. While hydroelectric dams, canals, and lock systems also regulate flow, The St. Lawrence has avoided the huge floods that have devastated the Mississippi, Missouri, and Ohio River systems in recent years. Nonetheless, the system and the tributaries flood every year unless in a drought. In the days of Rips the Montreal Harbor streets would be flooded annually with 3 to 6 ft of water. This was due to the ice jams just below Montreal. The floods were so bad that even the Longeuil side of the river had to build dikes. This problem existed until the ocean freighters started coming up the river through the winter and the icebreakers worked all winter.

Prior to the last ice age, the river was part of an enormous ocean basin, but after ice receded some 10,000 years ago, the river has maintained a steady course over 800 miles from Lake Ontario to the Atlantic Ocean, moving over 200,000 cubic feet of water per second. If the Great Lakes are included as part of its length, the river flows 2500 miles from source to its Atlantic outflow.

For more information, go to St. Lawrence River