Many of our ancestors, we have seen, were part of the militia in different eras. Augustine (Beauce), Jean-Baptiste (Ile d'Orleans) and Joseph (Gentilly), were, themselves, captain of the militia of their time. But what the militia at that time? What right had a captain of militia in his parish? Let the historian Marcel Trudel care to answer these questions.
"The establishment of the militia in New France was made by Louis XIV in 1669. He had ordered the governor of the institute Courcelles.
The militia in the eighteenth century recruit all men 16 to 60 years, to bear arms ... The militia's core Parish: each parish has at least one company of 50 or 80 men, some populous parishes have two or three companies.
The parish is a chief captain of militia, who holds a commission from the Governor-General: In addition to enforcing the orders of senior military and civil administration (it is in this case above the Lord), he must oversee the training of his men and direct them during campaigns. His dignity allows him to wear a sword and a gilt gorget, he reserves a pew, in the most honorable place after the Lord's ...
The service, whatever its duration, is free and, in principle, provide their militia weapons, their own clothing and even their food ... Under the military, the militia will rise temporarily to play a leading role ... that the militia would then constitute the new police ... 52.
Saint-Hyacinthe, doctor. Born in the Isle of Orleans (St. John), January 12, 1813. Son of John Turcot, master miller and Margaret LaHave.
He made his courses at the College of St. Hyacinthe. In 1834 he was admitted to the study of medicine with Dr. Bouthillier, Saint-Hyacinthe. On November 25, 1837, he took part in the Battle of St. Charles. Speaking of this battle, according to witness accounts, L.-J. A. Papineau mentions in his diary as having especially distinguished by his bravery "Turcot a young medical student in Dr. Bouthillier. Taking refuge in the United States after the battle, he continued his studies at the Medical College of Albany. He graduated and settled permanently in St. Hyacinthe in 1838, not without ulterior motive to lend a hand in the second uprising planned, because his name appears in the list of Brothers Hunters place. Played there another role in November? Everything we know is he fit to return to Albany, or to complete his studies or to practice his profession.
L.-J. A. Papineau signals its presence, January 15, 1841, among students of Medical College. Returned home in 1845, he moved to St. Hyacinthe in 1847, he married at St. Cuthbert, Berthier, Marie-Rose Heloise Moreau-Duplessis, whose son he had two doctors who were like him: Jean-Charles Gaspard and Joseph-Eugène Magloire.
He played an important role in Saint-Hyacinthe, where he was mayor for eight years he was justice of the peace, commissioner of small causes, Commissioner for the erection of civil parishes in the diocese. It was also in 1847, appointed surgeon of the 6th Battalion.
He died in Saint-Hyacinthe, July 24 1878.53.
| Photo of Louis-Philippe Turcotte |
Louis-Philippe Turcotte.
Source: Historical Monuments Commission of the Province of Quebec. Peter Roy-G., L'Ile d'Orleans, p. 422.
Louis-Philippe Turcotte was born in Saint-Jean de l'Île d'Orléans, July 11, 1842, good farming family and he died at Quebec, April 3, 1878. It has therefore lived only thirty-six. After attending the small school in his parish, and taught at the rectory, the rudiments of Latin, he entered in 1855, the Seminary of Quebec. There remained only three years. We do not know exactly why he did not continue his classical studies. He liked however the study. His diligence was noticed. And his parents could afford to keep the seminar. Maybe even by a very natural fickleness of youth he abandoned his classes? A classical curriculum, it seems so long! How the beginning with enthusiasm, and who are discouraged in the midst of career fact remains that in 1858, Turcotte said goodbye to Greek and Latin, to guide his life in an entirely different meaning. He had two brothers in the trade. One, Nazaire, was in the grocery stores. There were to succeed, and become one of the largest traders of Quebec. I remember seeing him when I was studying at the seminary of Quebec. I've especially heard. He attracted attention with his handsome fortune, he had built himself. In our state of civilization, the best formulas are admired as works of art are the wealthy bourgeois manners of celebrities Nazaire Turcotte, wholesale grocer in the Lower Town, was built on Grande-Allée a sort of palace, near the Parliament Building. This residence was considered the most luxurious of all Quebec. The luxury, even in our Athens, without exercise is not attractive. If I am not mistaken, this house, which was said princely, but I could watch from the outside, is now the property of the Knights of Columbus.
Or is it a vague boredom that brought Louis-Philippe Turcotte to abandon his studies? Or is it the desire to make immediately useful to his brother Nazaire, while it had launched a business that would take him so far? Or, he considered himself rather own the business and work of the mind? Speculation thought they seemed very slow, and results very problematic side of occupations that were of immediate returns and which allowed a glimpse of a future of wealth? We have no lights on it. If certain information, go to my conjecture. Entering the service of his brother, and destined also to trading. Louis-Philippe Turcotte gave the deep tendency of its positive and realistic nature. Yet this same way in which he undertook, was to lead a trip to any unexpected, his true vocation, which was to be a historian. On December 31, 1859, Turcotte went with two companions, to Saint-Jean, his home parish, to spend the New Year with his family. "As the ice was taken since the day they made the journey on foot. They arrived safely at the edge of Bout de L'Isle, the "flats" are in a dangerous state. One passenger was Louis-Philippe, advancing carelessly; all at once he felt the ice give way and break under his feet he sinks to the arms. Alarmed by this accident, one of the young people once again the path of the city, without thinking of his unfortunate companion. The third, more humane, or at least with more cold-blooded, eager to rescue his friend, and succeeded, albeit with great difficulty, to remove water. Iced up inside, shivering in every limb, the young man, victim of his carelessness, may, with the help of his companion, dragging himself to the hotel Trudel, where he changed clothes. In the afternoon the same day, without waiting for his clothes are completely dried, it goes by car, intense cold, Saint-Jean, his home parish.
This accident made Louis-Philippe Turcotte an invalid for the rest of his days. Severe disease is declared soon. During the six years that followed, Turcotte endured a martyr who gave him no respite, no day or night. His pain was excruciating. They finally calmed down, but after scoring their victim forever. He remained an invalid, crippled, three-quarters paralyzed, unable to walk a little with crutches. However, the young man's brain was intact. It seemed that life had left the members had taken refuge in the head. He felt a great need for activity. But what to do in such a state? How to work on something useful? I remember reading, I do not know where the next word: "My friend, you suffer? Make your pain a poem, and it will heal. " Turcotte had the idea, if not cure, at least to charm and to console her grief, dealing with history. He first prepared with great care, that of his native parish, then widened as part unwittingly, he extended his work to all Isle of Orleans. This story, as we say "interesting and faithful" and who appeared in 1867, having been well received by the public, the author was committed to continuing on this path. He then began to call Canada under the Union, whose first part appeared in 1871 and the second in 1872.
| Photo of Priest Label, Nazaire Turcotte and Honoré Mercier |
Photo of Mr. Nazaire Turcotte at center, left, the priest Label, better known as the "King of the North, and
to his right, Honoré Mercier, Premier of the province of Quebec.
Collection of Mrs. Therese C. Turcotte (Quebec)
I can hardly prevent the word masterpiece to register at the end of the considerations to which his history has given rise. I wonder what he would have exaggerated when I reflect on the facts it contains, the ideas which it overflows, at maturity it shows. "Those who have not suffered, what does he know? "Say the sacred books. Our historian had suffered, he was born for pain. In pain, he drew a wisdom that men usually acquire only through long experience. He had a history of divination, he was a historian at heart. I do not deny that a more complete intellectual education would have given more scope to his talent, had not expanded the horizon of his thought, he had never opened fruitful perspectives. More general education had allowed him to relax and change their designs and to print form a generally more refined. With the means at his disposal, and the age when man begins to think he has produced such a work is something that confuses the concepts traditionnelles.54.
Finally, the phone ...
1911, Island of Orleans ... dirt roads and in winter, sleighs drawn by horses walking difficulty in piles of snow burials and baptisms sometimes delayed for several days without access to the church of emergency surgery performed on the big kitchen table, the surgeon having considered more able than the patient to confront the hazards of the road, taking the ice bridge eagerly awaited ...
To overcome this isolation of the island, the government had in 1904, installed at the height of Ange-Gardien, on the coast of Beaupré, a submarine cable which ended on the Island at a single telephone: l for 'use people had to go to designated days, scheduled and limited browsing, some of them, fifteen to twenty miles.
In 1907, a citizen of the parish, recently appointed inspector of schools, having taught for ten years in Quebec, had moved back in his hometown and decided to improve the lives of his hometown. After studying in his spare time, the technology of telephone calls Mr. Joseph Turcotte, my father established in 1911, a network he called The Telephone Company Quebec-Orleans, serving four parishes and ensure communication with Quebec. A core was placed in each parish. Initially, the installation of an item costing $ 2.40, annual subscription $ 5.70.
In 1929, Bell Canada bought the network and operates from. It was the end point of a small local company. A stage was reached.
Before the march of progress and the trend towards concentration of firms in other local services, almost legendary, are also missing over the years: the flour mill of the manor Poulin, nestled at the foot of a hill green, and has enchanted many walks do childish humming "Anne-Marie s'en va-t-mill" and that one day, stopped the merry tic-tac ... the cooperative creamery and morning concert cans rattle ... the teams of oxen bringing logs to the sawmill, which she still works ... carriage by schooner ...
Far from casting spells and use spells, they devoted themselves to works and useful initiatives, those bills Wizards of Island ... 55.
M. Joseph-Marie Turcotte
| Photo of Joseph-Marie Turcotte |
Family Collection of Miss Madeleine Turcotte.
My grandfather, Benjamin Turcotte was the son of Pierre Turcotte and Celina Lachance Ste-Famille de l'Ile d'Orleans. Like two other brothers, Napoleon and Cérénus, he decided to learn a trade. That Montmagny they learn the trade of tinsmith working with his brother Napoleon, who was already an employee of the house Labrecque. In order to earn better wages, the two brothers decided to change jobs; Napoleon moved to Montreal while Benjamin was engaged at home Lachance. From that moment he had to work on all construction of churches and cathedrals of the south shore of Lower St. Lawrence and Gaspesie. As a foreman and team leader, he initiated other workers in this trade.
| Photo of Benjamin Turcotte, his wife, and his son, Gilles |
Benjamin Turcotte, his wife and his son Giles.
Collection of Mrs. Gilles Turcotte
During those years, he came once a month at home. Later he worked on the renovation of the church of Ste-Anne-de-Beaupre. During the last years of his career he was a master tinsmith hospital St. Michael Archangel Giffard. He was responsible for the work of tinplate, for example the installation of ventilation systems, renovating the stainless steel counters. In 1948, he has been eligible for the first time in a week's vacation, well-deserved vacation when the workweek is 60 hours.
He first married Rose Delima Lemelin, who gave him seven children, including my mother and second wife Emma Lemelin whom he had two sons and four daughters.56.
At a lavish celebration of the tercentenary of Quebec in the summer of 1908, was presented a medal of honor to the families of our campaigns that had proved they were the owners of the same land for at least two hundred years. Island of Orleans was truly honored by this evening ... Thirty-one of his son received the medal known as the "old families" including:
| Alphonse Turcotte plaque |
Diplomas and gold medals awarded by the festival committee of the parish of Ste-Marie (1944) the oldest representative of the four families in the parish of Ste-Marie for two hundred years, from father to son without interruption:
Augustine Turcotte family, represented by Napoleon Turcotte.
Diplomas and silver medals awarded by the Ministry of Agriculture of the Province of Quebec, in collaboration with the parties growers Ste-Marie, who still own the land originally granted to their ancestors and transmitted without interruption in the family until now.
Mr. Edmond Turcotte land granted July 25, 1793, to Louis Turcotte.58.
Souvenir plaque awarded to Mr. Alphonse Turcotte.
It is now preserved in Mr. Romain Turcotte Island of Orleans.