.>^>^ ^.^-ti^^r^ :f^^ *I>«I»TJ t , s-,-*'" '-'>. UTw' m n '''tS' MONTREAL ITS HISTORY, TO WHICH IS ADDXD ;ioiif9plti«l ^It^Mfj^j. mi\ jl{(»t(r0¥9|r(($, CF MANY OF ITS PRINCIPAL CITIZENS, Bt Rev. BORTHWICK, J. DOUGLAS AcTHCR OF " Thb BRiTisn AscEUicAS Readkh," " CrCLOPBDiA OF HiaxoRr AND GEoor.APHT," " The Harp of Canaan," " Ths Battles or tue Wori-d," " Every Man's Mink of U?EFrL Knowledge," " The Elementary Geoguapuv of Canada," and " The Histoby of Scottish Sono.' Published by Drthdalb and Co., Stationers and Booksillers, St. jAMEb' Street, 1875. 3^UT4- Entered according to Act of Parliameut in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, by Eev. J. DotroLAS Borthwick, in the office of the Minister of Agriculture and Statistics at Ottawa. S. — PREFACE. In issuing this work on " Montreal and its Inhabitants," the Author feels that there are many defects in a book of this kind. In a Second Edition these may be remedied. Much assistance has been given to the Author by many gentlemen in Montreal, chief among whom are the Rev. I'Abb^ Yerreau, Prin- cipal of Jacques Cartier Normal School ; Rev. , of the Seminary of St. Sulpice, whose most interesting History of Montreal, with the origin of the names of its older streets, is inserted, with many thanks to him for his kind- ness and assistance. Mrs. Sadlier's Biographical Sketch of the late Honorable T. D. McGee, written expressly for this work, wiU be read by all with much satisfaction—a beautiful tribute from the pen of one of the most talented writers on this Continent, to the memory of a great man and a patriot. To T. S. Brown, Esq., the Author is under much obligation for valuable papers on the Manufac- tures, &c., of Montreal, during this century. To M. Edmond Lareau he is under the greatest obligations for large extracts in the biographical section of the book from his interesting work published in 1874, viz., " Histoire de la Litterature Canadienne." To all others who have aided him in any way he returns his sincere thanks. The Photographs are from the Studio of Inglis, Montreal, and every one will confess that they are truthfully taken—the whole forming a galaxy of the most prominent men of the city, past and present, in a compact and easy method of arrangement, and in a form at once unique and interesting. J. DOUGLAS BORTHWICK. '_''" Montreal, May, 1875. ^ -. — MONTREAL, ITS HISTORY. The success which attended the French in their the former, and again sailed with three vessels, discoveries in the Western "World excited the which were named the Great Hermina, the Little jealousy of the Kings of Spain and Portugal, to Hermina and the Hermerillon, on the ] 9th May, whom the Pope, according to the ecclesiasti- lo35. The ships having been separated in a great cal maxims of those days, had confirmed the storm re- united on the 26th July off the coast of possession of the New World. Francis, the rhen Newfoundland. Proceeding to the Gulf of St. Law- King of France, not acknowledging this right to rence, and coasting along the north side or shore, exclude him from a share of the glories and they came on the 10th August to " a goodly great possessions of America, and facetiously remarking gulf, full of islands, passages and entrances towards that he " would fain see the article in Father what wind soever you please to bend." This day Adam's wiU which bequeaths that vast inheritance will be ever remembered as being St. Lawrence to them," resolved not to be deterred from prose- Day, on which Cartier entered the river, which cuting his discoveries. The navigator Verrazzani from this day is called the River St. Lawrence. had given to the countries he had visited the The name was afterwards extended to the whole name of La NoiiveUe France or New France, an of the gulf as well as the river. On the 15th, he appellation which afterwards comprehended the discovered an island to the south which he named Canadas, Philippe Chabot, the Admiral of Assumption, in honour of the fete and day on which France, represented to the King the great advan- he discovered it. The laand is now called Anti- tage of establishing a colony in his new domi- costi, from its Indian name of Natiscotec. Con- nions, and introduced him to Jacques Quartier or tinuing his course he scanned the shores on both Cartier, a native of St. Malo, whe had been en- sides of the river, and held communication with gaged in the cod fisliery, as a person eminently the natives,—the two Indians who had accom- qualified for this service. He sailed from St. panied him to France, and who were then with Malo on the 20th of April, 1534, "with two ships him on the ship, rendering great service as inter- of three score tons apiece burthen, and sixty-one preters. He soon entered the River Saguenay, well-appointed men in each." He reached the and a few days after made the Isle aux Coudres, Island of Newfoundland in twenty days, passed which he called from the excellent filberts found through the Straits of Belleisle, traversed the Gulf there. Feeling an increased interest in the voy- of St. Lawrence, approar' 3d the Continent at the age he pursued it with unabated vigor, and soon Baie des Chaleurs—which he named on account of reached an island which from its beauty and fer- the great heat of the summer—proceeded to Gas- tility, especially from the number of wild vines p^, or Gachep^ Bay, where he erected a cross with growing there, he named the Isle of Bacchus the fleurs-de-lys of France to secure possession to now called the Island of Orleans. He was visited " his master, the King ; and persuaded two of the here by Donnacona, the Lord of Canada." Hav- natives to accompany him to France, where he ing afterwards found a safe harbour for his vessels arrived in September of the same year. Through he moored them in the Port de St. Croix, in the the influence of the Vice-admiral of France, Cartier River St. Charles, and was again visited by Don- obtained a new commission, more extensive than nacona with 500 of his attendants, to welcome — ;; ; ; ; ;; ; 6 MONTREAL, ITS HISTORY. him on his arrival in the country. The residence JACQUES CARTIER. of this chief was at Stadacona, which occupied a (a.d. 1534.) " portion of the space on which the Ancient I. Citj ," Quebec, now stands. In the seaport of St. Malo 'twas a smiling morn in May, AVhen the Commodore Jacques Cartier to the westward sail'd The discoveries hitherto made by Cartier, num- away; the crowded old cathedral all the were their erous and surprising as they were, so far from In town on knees For the safe return of kinsmen from the undiscover'd seas his satisfying his ambition^ served only to excite And every autumn blast that swept o'er pinnacle and pier, desire for still greater achievements. As Stada- Fill'd mauly hearts with sorrow, and gentle hearts with fear. cona did not bound his curiosity, neither did it u. limit his progress. Having 'earned that there A year pass'd o'er St. Malo—again came round the day When the Commodore Jacques Cartier to the westward sail'd existed a place of much greater importance at a away; considerable distance up the river, he determined But no tidings from the absent had come the way they went, And tearful were the vigils that many a maiden spent to advance up the stream in search of it. Neither And manly hearts were fill'd with gloom, and gentle hearts with the lateness of the season, nor the representations fear. of those about him, could divert him from his When no tidings came from Cartier at the dosing of the year. object, and he commenced his voyage in the Her- But the earth is as the future, it hath its hidden side merillon with two long boats, provisions and am- ; And the captain of St. Malo was rejoicing in his pride munition. The scenery on both banks of the In the forests of the north—while his townsmen mourned his loss. river delighted him with its beauty, and the He was rearing on Mount Royal thefleur-de-lys and cross when two were over, and added to the natives cheerfully supplied him with what they And months year, St. Malo hail'd him home again, cheer answering to cheer. could procure to supply his necessities. The chief IT. of the district of the Hochelai—now called the He told them of a region, hard, iron-bound, and cold. Richelieu paid him a visit, and presented him with Nor seas of pearl abounded, nor mines of shining gold — ; his son, a iine boy about seven years of age. At Lake Where tLe wind from Thule freezes the word upon the lip, And the ice in spring comes sailing athwart the early ship St. Peter the party was obliged, by the shallowness He told them of the frozen scene until they thrill'd with fear. of the water and their ignorance of the deeper And piled fresh fuel on the hearth to make him better cheer. channel, tc leave the pinnace and betake them- the selves to their boots. On second of October, But when he changed the strain—he told how soon are cast 1635, they effected a landing below the site of the In early spring the fetters that hold the waters fast How the winter causeway broken is drifted out to sea.