Dans un Petit Village

In the editorial in Le Canadien on December 28, 1838, it was clearly stated that the journal would continue publication. That was a brave statement, but how does a journal continue publication when both the publisher and editor of the journal are in jail? The solution was clear to Etienne Parent and Jean - Baptiste Fréchette , they must continue working in spite of being in prison. Just how did they accomplish that?  I first came across a reference to how Etienne Parent and Jean - Baptiste Fréchette accomplished this feat in the article by Jean - Charles Falardeau, "PARENT, ETIENNE," in Dictionary of Canadian Biography published in 2003. Jean - Charles Falardeau mentioned that "a young messenger, Stanislas Drapeau" brought information, editorial drafts , etc.that were hidden inside "a faked tart" and took away corrected proofs. I wanted to find out more about this subterfuge used by Etienne Parent to continue running his newspaper while he languished in ja...

I have been focusing on the arrest of Etienne Parent and Jean - Baptiste Fréchette. They were not the only journalists, printers, or men of letters to be arrested in connection with the rebellion of 1837 - 1838. In an article by Yvan Lamonde, "Canadian Print and the Emergence of Public culture in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries", he names eleven Quebec men of letters who were arrested for criticizing or opposing the British colonial government. He names but does not elaborate on each individual. I decided to dig a bit and find out more about these individuals. Another source names about twenty - five literary men who were arrested for supporting reform in Lower Canada. I will elaborate on only ten. Napoléon Aubin Napoléon Aubin was a journalist, publisher, playwright, and scientist. Aubin was born on November 9, 1812 in Chêne, Bougeris, Switzerland. After living in the United States for a short period of time Aubin moved to Canada in 1835. He wrote an article that he ...

The news of Etienne Parent and Jean - Baptiste's arrest travelled quickly and soon there was a small entourage of friends accompanying them to the Quebec Citadelle. It is stated who those friends but I would say that among them were Napoleon Aubin, the owner and editor or the journal, Le Fantasque, Stanislas Drapeau, journalist, printer, and publisher, who at the time of this event was a typographer for Le Fantasque, among others. Etienne Parent was well known and widely admired not only throughout lower Canada but throughout all of North America including the United States.  When the group arrived at the Citadelle the chief of police informed them that he had received orders from his superiors in Montreal to prevent all visitors from seeing Etienne Parent and Jean - Baptiste Frechette unless they members of their direct family. It would be an understatement to say that the arrest of Etienne Parent and Jean - Baptiste Frechette caused a significant stir in the lower Canada. Not the...

I finished the last post with, 'At the prison they were " imprisoned with other political prisoners; Mr. Rousseau, Teed, Chasseur, and Dumont".'  Who were these " other political prisoners"?  Pierre Chasseur Pierre Chasseur was a gilder and wood carver. He came from a less affluent background and he was not well educated. After apprenticing as a gilder Pierre Chasseur also began to carve wood as well. It is interesting that Pierre Chasseur had an interest in natural history but he started collecting at a time when an interest in arts and science was flourishing in Quebec. It is not known when he started collecting but by 1824 Pierre Chasseur had a significant collection of animals, particularly birds that was housed in his home on  Rue Sainte-Hélène (Rue McMahon) in the Upper Town of Quebec City. When the government acquired his collection in 1830 he had over 500 specimens. Pierre Chasseur was closely involved with the rebellions of 1837 and 1838. He made hi...

The day that Etienne Parent was arrested, Le Canadien issued this announcement,  " Quebec: Mercredi, 26 Décembre 1838 Arrestation de L'Editeur et de L'Imprimeur de ce Journal.      Aujourd'hui a Midi, M. Parent, Éditeur, et M. Fréchette, Imprimeur, de ce Journal, on été arrêtes et mis en prison. Il n'est pas besoin de dire que ceci va entraîner des desrangements, de l'interruption pour le moins dans la publication de ce Journal. Nous ne pouvons en dire Davantage." [English translation] "Today at noon, Mr. Parent, Editor, and Mr. Frechette, Printer, of this Journal, were arrested and put into prison. There is no need to say that this will cause disturbances, interruption to say the least in the publication of this Journal. We cannot say more." Actually, they could have said a lot more than this short note in Le Canadien. We will discover the full story about the arrest of Etienne Parent and Jean - Baptiste Frechette in a forthcoming issue of Le Ca...

On Monday, December 24, 1838, (Christmas Eve), Etienne Parent, the editor of Le Canadien, one of the most popular and political French language newspapers in Lower Canada wrote an inflammatory editorial to protest the treatment of patriotes who participated in the uprising in Lower Canada. It was an denunciation of the John Colborne's (the governor of Lower Canada) arbitrary measures. After the rebellion in Lower Canada was put down in 1837 the British government suspended the constitution that was created in 1791, dissolved the Legislative Assembly and created the the Special Council which effectively became the government of Lower Canada. The Special Council had all of the authority of the Legislative assembly. Their mandate was to re-establish peace and order in Lower Canada. Since there was no political process in Lower Canada, no elections or elected assembly, the Special Council could do whatever they wanted without having to worry about the wishes of the local population. ...

Up to this point, I have writing post about each of my direct ancestors, maternal and paternal. To be fair, I alternated from one side of the family to the other for each post. Starting with this post I am going to go in a slightly difference direction and, for the foreseeable future, I will focus my post on one ancestor, Etienne Parent. During the course of researching my parent ancestors I discovered Etienne Parent (1802 - 1874). He is not a direct ancestor. Etienne is descended from Etienne Parent, one of the original triplets of Pierre Parent and Jeanne Badeau. That would make Etienne Parent an uncle. Sorry, I have not worked out our exact relationship. Our relationship is not that important to my research. I have been researching Etienne Parent for over an year and I have collected an enormous amount of information from a variety of sources; Library and Archives Canada (LAC), The Internet Archives, Geneanet, Family Search, and a number of internet queries. As you can see i hav...