Rouville

The comté de Rouville, named after Jean-Baptiste Hertel de Rouville (1668-1722), was created in 1829. Before that date, Rouville was part of the comté de Bedford. Situated in the Vallée-du-Richelieu, the comté de Rouville extended from to the American border at Lake Champlain north to Saint-Hilaire. To the west it is bordered by the Richelieu River and in the east by the comtés de Saint-Hyacinthe, Shefford and Missisquoi. The comté consisted of a great plain cleared along the Richelieu and three mountains, Saint-Hilaire, Rougemont and St-Grégoire and three important rivers, the Richelieu, the Rivière des Hurons and the Rivière du Sud. It was part of the district of Montreal and contained seven seigneuries: Rouville, Monnoir, Chambly-Est, Bleury, Sabrevois, Noyan and Foucault.[1] The six principal parishes of the comté, situated for the most part along the river, were Saint-Hilaire, Saint-Jean-Baptiste, Saint-Mathias, Sainte-Marie-de-Monnoir, Saint-Athanase and Saint-Georges. [2] The comté was divided into two main areas. Its northern section lay in the Bas-Richelieu and was rural, agricultural, Catholic and solidly French Canadian, one of the principal Patriote strongholds during the rebellions. The southern part of the comté was in the Haut-Richelieu and its communities were largely Anglo-American, Protestant and loyal to the British Crown. [3] In 1831, the comté had a population of 18,115 habitants. [4]

Rouville was one of the most important farming areas in Quebec largely because of its fertile soil. Wheat, flour and cereals were its three main agricultural products. From 1810, commercial apple growing developed in Saint-Hilaire. Like other parts of Lower Canada, Rouville was badly affected by the agrarian crisis of the 1830s. According to Ouellet, the fall in agricultural prices and a series of bad harvest caused by rust and insects led to famine in the region. [5] There was some diversification in the region’s rural economy. The timber industry developed using the important forests in the comté. The textile industry, especially in Saint-Mathias boomed in 1837 following the Patriotes’ decision to boycott British imports and wear home-spun woollen cloth. By 1837, Saint-Matthias, with three well-stocked quays, was regarded as the commercial crossroads of the region and river trade led to some prosperity in the comté.

In 1830, Jean-Baptiste René Hertel de Rouville, seigneur of the comté de Rouville was deputy for the region in the Legislative Assembly and also sat on the Legislative Council.[6] De Rouville was hostile to the reform movement and was regarded by the Parti Patriote as a traitor.[7] The 1834 elections saw an increasing polarisation of votes between Patriotes and Loyalists. Thomas Lemay, a dissident in the Parti Patriote, and B. Holmes faced Pierre Carreau[8] and Dr Antoine-Eusèbe Bardy[9] and the Patriotes won both seats. There was now no member of the Legislative Council in the region. After the elections in 1834, many assemblies were held in the comté de Rouville by both Loyalists and Patriotes. The first loyalist assembly, chaired by Conrad Derck was held at Clarenceville (Saint-Georges) on 12 March 1834 to protest about the Ninety-Two Resolutions. Albert Chapman and Reuben Taylor were the principal speakers at this meeting. Three years later, on 13 October 1837, a further loyalist assembly was held at Clarenceville to protest against attempts by the Patriotes to weaken or break the colony’s links with Britain and even to suspend the Legislative Assembly.[10] Then on 8 November, the citizens of Clarenceville organised a further assembly in order to organise a loyalist petition that 353 people signed. Then, on 30 November 1837, a meeting was held outside the church of Sainte-Marie-de-Monnoir.

For their part, the Patriotes also held several meetings at Sainte-Marie-de-Monnoir. On 9 February 1833, the electors of M. Rainville addressed the other electors in the region asking them to vote for Ludger Duvernay. On 8 March 1834, Doctor François-Joseph Davignon[11] held a meeting at his house, chaired by Étienne Poulin[12], to promote the Ninety-Two Resolutions. Two days later, Antoine-Eusèbe Bardy chaired a meeting at the hôtel Henderson at Saint-Athanase where those present signed a petition in favour of the Ninety-Two Resolutions. Several days later, the resolutions agreed at Saint-Athanase were publicised in churches throughout the comté. On 30 April 1834, Patrick Murray, a farmer from Sainte-Marie-de-Monnoir held a meeting for the Irish habitants from the south-west of the region. On 22 July 1835, there was a meeting at the house of Édouard Vancelette that formed a branch of the Montreal Constitutional Association for the comté de Rouville. The most important meeting in the region, organised by F-J Davignon, took place at Saint-Athanase on 5 November 1837 that sought some conciliation between Patriotes and Constitutionalists.[13] It was called by

...des personnes d’opinion différente dans la politique de cette Province aux fins d’aviser aux moyens de conciliation entre les parties Patriotes et Constitutionnels.[14]

The key figures involved in this assembly were: Timothée Franchère[15] (president), Eustache Soupras[16] and Gabriel Marchand (vice-presidents), F-J Davignon and Ls. M. Decoigne[17] (secretaries). Its twenty-four reformist resolutions concerned the composition of the Legislative Council, control of the Civil List and also the abolition of the seigneurial regime.

On 28 February 1838, 600-700 rebels came from the United States and met at the Caldwell manor in the seigneurie de Noyan (comté de Rouville). Robert Nelson, who chaired this gathering presented the Déclaration d’indépendance de la République du Bas-Canada. It proclaimed the independence of Lower Canada from Great Britain, introduced a republican form of government with universal suffrage and the abolition of seigneurial tenure.[18] Nelson also called on the people of Canada to rise up in rebellion. After proclaiming independence, the rebels were forced to retreat back across the border when faced with the threat from loyalist militias.

During the rebellions of 1837-1838, the comté de Rouville was an important theatre of military action, though on a smaller scale than in the Richelieu. Between 1834 and 1838, Patriote and loyalist activity in the region was very similar in terms of meetings and levels of support though the Patriotes managed to organise slightly more events than the loyalists. During October and November 1837, there were dozens of charivaris in the Richelieu including one at St-Athanase.[19] During the rebellion of 1837, part of the Patriote militia was based at Saint-Mathias in the comté de Rouville. The main rebel leaders were: Dr François-Joseph Davignon (Sainte-Marie-de-Monnoir), merchants Louis Marchand and Eustache Soupras from Saint-Mathias and Édouard-Élisée Malhiot. [20] On 10 November 1837, thirty rebels from Saint-Athanase, led by Pierre-Paul Demaray[21] (St-Jean), Davignon and Patrick McKeenan[22] (Saint-Athanase) attacked some loyalists who were moving towards St-Jean. On 28 November, there was a brief skirmish at Saint-Mathias between British troops led by Wetherall and a group of rebels led by Malhiot.

During 1838, several Frères Chasseurs lodges were established in the comté de Rouville, including ones at Sainte-Marie-de-Monnoir and Saint-Athanase. On 3 and 4 November, rebels gathered at Saint-Mathias in preparation for an attack on the garrison at Chambly. At the same time, 300 Patriotes from Saint-Athanase took possession of the village of Christieville (Iberville).[23] On 7 November, some houses in Saint-Athanase were looted and burned down: the merchant Charles Mongeau, landlord François Macé and the butcher Jean-Baptiste Arcand were the three main victims of these acts of vandalism. Following the rebellion in 1838, Timothée Franchère, a tradesman of Saint-Mathias, was imprisoned for his participation and François Nicolas[24], a teacher and farmer from Saint-Athanase, was among the twelve rebels who are hung. [25]

Between 1840 and 1850, the comté de Rouville faced falling population caused largely by rural migration. The wheat trade was in decline because of the closure of external markets and the growth in wheat production in Upper Canada and the Mid-West of the United States. The trade in hay and fodder increased significantly as trade with New England developed. However, it was not until the end of the nineteenth century that the development of railways and the river trade that the economy of the region fully recovered.

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[1] Ibid, Bouchette, Joseph, Description topographique du Canada 1815, pp. 207-209.

[2] Cardinal, Armand, Histoire de Saint-Hilaire: The Seigneurs de Rouville, (Editions Du Jour), 1980; ibid, Laporte, Gilles, Patriotes et Loyaux, pp. 226-236.

[3] Filion, Mario et collaborateurs, Itinéraire toponymique de la Vallée-du-Richelieu, Études et recherches toponymiques, 10, (Gouvernement du Québec), 1984, p. 2

[4] Ibid, Girod, Amury, Notes sur le Bas-Canada, p. 14.

[5] Ibid, Ouellet, Fernand, Histoire économique et sociale du Québec 1760-1850: structures et conjonctures, pp. 333-336.

[6] DPQ, p. 366.

[7] Cardinal, Armand, ‘Saint-Hilaire et l’insurrection de 1837’, Les cahiers d’histoire de la Société d'histoire de Beloeil-Mont-Saint-Hilaire, no. 22, (1987), p. 25.

[8] DPQ, pp. 128-129.

[9] DPQ, p. 29; Messier, pp. 22-23.

[10] Ibid, Bernard, Jean-Paul, Assemblées publiques, résolutions et déclarations de 1837-1838, pp. 223-225.

[11] Messier, p. 133.

[12] Messier, p. 393.

[13] Ibid, Bernard, Jean-Paul, Assemblées publiques, résolutions et déclarations de 1837-1838, pp. 286-290.

[14] Archives nationales du Québec, E-99-100

[15] Messier, pp. 194-195.

[16] Messier, pp. 445-446.

[17] Messier, p. 135.

[18] Ibid, Greer, Allan, The patriots and the people, p. 301.

[19] Ibid, Greer, Allan, The patriots and the people, p. 219.

[20] ‘Edouard-Elisée Malhiot’, DCB, Vol. 10, pp. 491-492; Messier, pp. 315-316.

[21] Messier, p. 137.

[22] Messier, p. 330.

[23] Ibid, Fortin, Réal, La guerre des Patriotes: le long du Richelieu, p. 66.

[24] Messier, p. 353.

[25] Ibid, Bernard, Jean-Paul, Les Rébellions de 1837-1838: Les patriotes du Bas-Canada dans la mémoire collective et chez les historiens, p. 132.

Richelieu

The region of Richelieu is divided into two distinct parts that corresponded to their position in relation to the Richelieu River. The Bas-Richelieu is located between where the Richelieu joins the St Lawrence as far as the comté de Rouville and Beloeil and forms the comté de Richelieu. [1] It is bordered in the west by the Richelieu River, the principal communication route, to the north by the St Lawrence and to the east by the Yamaska River and the comté de Saint-Hyacinthe. In contained six parishes in 1837: Sorel, Saint-Ours, Saint-Denis, Saint-Charles, Saint-Jude and Saint-Barnabé.[2] The parishes along the Richelieu and St Lawrence were the most developed: Sorel, Saint-Ours, Saint-Denis and Saint-Charles. Saint-Jude and Saint-Barnabé were then regarded as missions. The population of the comté in 1835 was 16,149 and was overwhelmingly French Canadian.[3] The only exception was Sorel, the village of William Henry where forty% of its 1,063 habitants were anglophones.[4]

The comté was discovered by Samuel de Champlain and named after Cardinal de Richelieu who had ordered the colonisation of New France. Its temperate climate, fertile soil and access to the resources of the forests accelerated the granting of seigneuries in the seventeenth century. It was the Richelieu River that proved the major contributor to the development of the region. Its communication links placed the comté in a particularly advantageous position with other areas of Lower Canada. In 1829, the colonial government developed plans, which took twenty years to implement, to improve communication on the Richelieu by building a lock at Saint-Ours to increase regional trade upstream from the village.[5] The comté was one of the most important centres for agriculture and animal rearing in Lower Canada but there was also cultivation of flax and hemp.[6] Habitants also grew peas and beans, oats and corn for domestic use. Like other parts of Lower Canada, the Richelieu was affected by the downturn in the economy in the early 1830s and potatoes replaced wheat as the major crop.

The economy of the Richelieu diversified during the first half of the nineteenth century with the development of small-scale rural industries. This process was helped by the appearance of steamboats on the Richelieu stimulating the development of industries that now had easy and cheaper access to markets. In 1831, the pottery industry in Saint-Denis employed 31 people and there was also an important manufacturer of coaches in the same parish.[7] Saint-Charles, Saint-Denis and especially Saint-Ours became distribution centres for manufactured goods. Road and water links gave easy access to the markets of Montreal and Quebec. The area had mills for pressing linseed oil, a brewery, distillery and brickyard. [8] During the 1830s, Saint-Charles had industries that were less common: a foundry, a tannery and also, from 1833 to 1836, its own newspaper, L’Écho du pays. Although not well situated for farming, Sorel’s strategic position at the mouth of the Richelieu proved important. The development of commercial maritime trade from 1809 resulted in shipbuilding and particularly ship maintenance industries being developed and from 1837 to 1866 the village had an important military garrison.

The comté de Richelieu generally elected deputies from the Parti Patriote.[9] François-Roch de Saint-Ours[10] and Pierre-Dominique Debartzch[11], both seigneurs, were regarded as Patriotes until the mid-1830s when they found their moderate reformist position increasing sidelined by more radical Patriotes. Clément-Charles Sabrevois de Bleury broke with Papineau and was dismissed as deputy for Richelieu in 1836. [12] Because Sabrevois de Bleury was considered too moderate, the Patriotes met at Saint-Ours and demanded his resignation replacing him with Wolfred Nelson[13], a committed radical. On Saint-Jean-Baptiste in 1836, Nelson had defied the instructions of Mrg Lartigue and erected a monument to the memory of Louis Marcoux, killed on 8 November in a brawl with loyalists during the 1834 elections. Deputy Jacques Dorion[14] and Simeon Marchesseau[15] joined him in inflammatory speeches on the ‘immortal Ninety-Two Resolution’.[16]

On 7 March 1837, the popular assembly at Saint-Ours, chaired by Côme-Séraphin Cherrier[17], was attended by 1,200 people and denounced Russell’s Ten Resolutions. [18] During the autumn of 1837, the Patriotes in the comté de Richelieu adopted a more aggressive approach, taking part in charivari and in September in Saint-Denis burning Lord Gosford, Sabrevois de Bleury, Debartzch and Saint-Ours in effigy.[19] On 23 and 24 October, the assembly of the Six-Comtés was held at Saint-Charles attended by between 1,000 and 4,000 people from the comtés of Saint-Hyacinthe, Rouville, Chambly, Verchères and Richelieu. It protested against political injustice but also established a regional federation ‘to celebrate the unity and determination of the people’.[20] It also marked the point when political rhetoric began to turn into military action.[21]

During November 1837, comté de Richelieu saw several bloody encounters between Patriote rebels and British forces.[22] the On 18 November, Thomas Storrow Brown[23], general of the Fils de la Liberté occupied the manor of seigneur Debartzch at Saint-Charles and established an armed Patriote camp. [24] Wolfred Nelson established a camp at Saint-Denis at the same time. [25] On 23 November, there was an unsuccessful attack by British regulars under Lieutenant-Colonel Gore on Saint-Denis that left twelve dead on both sides.[26] Two days later, troops led by Wetherall successfully attacked the Patriotes at Saint-Charles leaving three soldiers dead and between 32 and 152 Patriotes. [27] On 2 December 1837 Gore returned to Saint-Denis and burned several buildings but the following day soldiers discovered the body of Lieutenant George Weir and destroyed the distillery of Wolfred Nelson.[28]

Towards the end of 1838, Malhiot[29] took command of the Frères Chasseurs of Saint-Charles, Saint-Denis and Saint-Ours, a force of nearly 2,000 men.[30] In the grandiose plans developed by Robert Nelson for the second rebellion, Malhiot’s role was to attack the garrison at Sorel to obtain its arms and munitions. During the night of 9-10 November, Malhiot and three hundred men left Saint-Ours in the direction of Sorel but turned back when they learned of the defeat of Nelson’s troops further south at Odelltown. Calm in the region was restored when regular troops moved south of the St Lawrence.[31] The 2,000 rebels at St-Charles, St-Denis and St-Ours dispersed. A patrol sent into the hills round Boucherville found that the Patriotes under Malhiot had disbanded without a fight and the camp which, between 6 and 10 November contained 1,000 men, empty. The area, particularly Saint-Charles and Saint-Denis, was ravaged by the rebellions and its economy took a long time to recover.

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[1] Ibid, Bouchette, Joseph, Description topographique du Canada 1815, pp. 200-230

[2] Ibid, Bouchette, Joseph, Description topographique du Canada 1815, pp. 206-230

[3] Girod, Amury, Notes sur le Bas-Canada, (Village Debartzch, imprimerie de J.P. Boucher-Belleville), 1835, p. 94

[4] Ibid, Courville, Serge, Entre ville et campagne: L’essor du village dans les seigneuries du Bas-Canada, p. 284

[5] Filion, Mario, Chambly, (Éditions passé présent), 1988, p. 32

[6] Ibid, Bouchette, Joseph, Description topographique du Canada 1815, p. 225

[7] Courville, Serge, Entre ville et campagne: L’essor du village dans les seigneuries du Bas-Canada, p. 154

[8] Greer, Allan, Habitants, marchands et seigneurs: La société rurale du Bas Richelieu, 1740-1840, (Septentrion), 1999, p. 259

[9] Ibid, Laporte, Gilles, Patriotes et Loyaux, pp. 175-194.

[10] DPQ, p. 679.

[11] DPQ, pp. 207-208; ‘Pierre-Dominique Debartzch’, DCB, Vol. 7, 1836-1850, pp. 235-237.

[12] Rumilly, Robert, Papineau et son temps, 2 Vols. (Fides), 1977, Vol. I, p. 403; DPQ, pp. 673-674.

[13] DPQ, p. 554; ‘Wolfred Nelson’, DCB, Vol. 9, 1861-1870, pp. 593-597.

[14] DPQ, pp. 231-231.

[15] Messier, pp. 320-321.

[16] Ibid, Rumilly, Robert, Papineau et son temps, Vol. I, p. 408.

[17] ‘Côme-Séraphin Cherrier’, DCB, Vol. 9, pp. 187-189; Messier, pp. 109-110.

[18] Lacoursière, Jacques, (ed.), Histoire populaire du Québec 1841-1846, Vol. 3, (Septentrion), 1996, p. 314; ibid, Bernard, Jean-Paul, Assemblées publiques, résolutions et déclarations de 1837-1838, pp. 23-28.

[19] Senior, Elinor Kyte, Les habits rouges et les Patriotes, (VLB), 1997, p. 51.

[20] Ibid, Greer, Allan, The patriots and the people, p. 205

[21] Ibid, Bernard, Jean-Paul, Assemblées publiques, résolutions et déclarations de 1837-1838, pp. 259-285.

[22] See, Fortin, Réal, La guerre des Patriotes: le long du Richelieu, (Editions Mille Roches), 1988 and Lambert, Pierre, Les Patriotes de Beloeil: le mouvement patriote, les insurrections de 1837-1838 et les paroissiens de Beloeil, (Septentrion), 1994.

[23] ‘Thomas Storrow Brown’, DCB, Vol. 11, pp. 116-117 is a convenient summary; see also, Messier, p. 86.

[24] Meunie, Pierre, L’insurrection à Saint-Charles et le Seigneur Debartzch, (Fides), 1986 is the most detailed account. Bellemare, Georges, Saint-Charles 1837 et la survie d’un peuple menacé, (Guérin), 2005, is a good account of the battle and is especially interesting on the number of Patriote dead.

[25] Séguin, Robert-Lionel, La victoire de Saint-Denis, (Parti pris), 1964, Boissonault, C.-M., ‘Les patriotes a Saint-Denis’, Revue de l’Université Laval, Vol. 5, (1951), pp. 777-790, and Richard, J. B., Les événements de 1837 à Saint-Denis-sur-Richelieu, (Societe d’histoire regionale de Saint-Hyacinthe), 1938, are useful, studies of the battle.

[26] Ibid, Senior, Elinor Kyte, Les habits rouges et les Patriotes, p. 126.

[27] Ibid, Senior, Elinor Kyte, Les habits rouges et les Patriotes, p. 141.

[28] Ibid, Senior, Elinor Kyte, Les habits rouges et les Patriotes, p. 153.

[29] ‘Edouard-Elisée Malhiot’, DCB, Vol. 10, pp. 491-492.

[30] Ibid, Senior, Elinor Kyte, Les habits rouges et les Patriotes, p. 266.

[31] Ibid, Senior, Elinor Kyte, Les habits rouges et les Patriotes, p. 266.