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History Articles

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From Acadia to Québec: Acadians in Québec and in the Gaspé

Author: 
Musée acadien du Québec à Bonaventure

The earliest settlements in Acadia (1604) were among the first efforts to establish a French colony in the New World. Located in what has become Nova Scotia, originally named Arcadia by Verazzano in 1524, this historical Acadia was the result of sustained immigration from France, mainly after 1632.

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Life in a Cascapedia Bay Lumber Camp

Author: 
Peggy Willett

When the first settlers arrived on the Gaspésie forests covered the entire Coast and, although trees were a necessity, they were sometimes viewed as a nuisance by men trying to clear enough land for crops and animals. It was very easy to obtain all the wood they needed by going a very short distance to the dense forest that surrounded them with their axes, saws and a horse and sleigh.

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William Cuthbert, 1794-1854, of Cascapedia Bay

Author: 
Peggy Willett

One of the early settlers to whom the region, specifically the Cascapedia Bay area, is greatly indebted for its early development is William Cuthbert, a native of Scotland and descendant of that ancient Scottish family, of which theeighth century monk St. Cuthbert was a member.

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The Three-Pence Stamp

Author: 
Jean-Paul Dallain

The New Carlisle Postmaster’s Provisional Postal service in Canada began under the French regime in 1705 with delivery of mail by courier between Quebec City, Three-Rivers and Montreal.In 1763 it was taken over under the British Crown by Benjamin Franklin and formed part of the North American Postal System.

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Landmarks of New Carlisle

Author: 
Municipality of New Carlisle

Fauvel Monument
The Fauvel Monument was erected in honour of William LeBoutillier Fauvel (1850-1897), on the day of his burial 1897.

Originally from Jersey Island, William Fauvel was without a doubt one of New Carlisle’s most illustrious citizens ever.Son of John Fauvel, he managed one of the town’s long disappeared landmarks, LeBoutillier Brothers Store.He was mayor of New Carlisle from 1889-1897. He was elected as the county’s first federal deputy in 1891, and re-elected in 1896.

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Carrick Shipwreck Monument, Gaspé

Author: 
Gaspé Tourism Office and Convention Board

Around the middle of the 19th century, the great Irish famine brought thousands of impoverished families to America. One of the immigrant ships, the Carricks of Whitehaven, went down off Cap-des-Rosiers in 1847. Of the 187 passengers on board, 87 perished at sea and 100 survivors were taken in by families in the village.

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Cannons of Fort Prével, Gaspé

Author: 
Gaspé Tourism Office and Convention Board

Since the Gulf of St. Lawrence was a strategic spot for enemy invasions (German submarines were known to be there starting in 1941), Gaspé became a strategic spot for the Ministry of National Defence. A naval base with 3000 men was built at Sandy Beach in order to patrol the Gulf. Strategic forts were sprinkled over the territory, and remnants of that time still exist today, such as the Fort Peninsula galleries at the entrance to Forillon National Park, the Fort Ramsay naval base at Sandy Beach, and the shoreline batteries at Cap-aux-Os and Fort- Prével.

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Jacques Cartier Monument National Historic Site of Canada, Gaspé

Author: 
Gaspé Tourism Office and Convention Board

The Jacques Cartier Monument National Historic Site is composed of six cast-iron stelae in shapes that recall the flat pebbles of the Gaspé Peninsula beaches, the mountainous profile of Forillon National Park of Canada and the standing stones of Brittany. The bas-reliefs on the stelae portray the principle scenes of the historic encounter between Europeans and Amerindians on July 24, 1534 when Jacques Cartier erected a cross on the shore of Gaspé Bay before a group of troubled Kwedech (Iroquois).

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Jacques Cartier's Cross

Author: 
Gaspé Tourism Office and Convention Board

Although Jacques Cartier has planted five crosses during his travels from 1534 and 1535-36, only one, planted in Gaspé in July 1534, marks his official taking possession of the new territory on behalf of the king of France, Francis I. On August 25, 1934, during the 400th anniversary celebrations of the arrival of Cartier in Gaspé, the Historic Sites and Monuments of Canada unveiled a cross in Gaspé made of granite measuring 10 meters high and weighing 29 tons.

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Miss Martha Baillie, A Community Treasure

Author: 
CASA (with information supplied by Heather Edwards)

The presence of the Baillie Family in the small village of Fleurant Point dates back to 1841, when Thomas Baillie emigrated from Scotland to America on the same boat as well-known fellow Scotsman and emigrant, Sir John A. MacDonald, who some years later would become Canada’s first Prime Minister.

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