In this installment of La Ligne, I shall try to uncover as much as I can about the fourth generation in Quebec through the life of Jean-Charles Renaud, the only son of Charles Renaud. Jean-Charles lived during a tumultuous time. He was not yet 18 years old when the Seven Years War began in 1754 and not yet twenty-three when Quebec fell to the British in 1759. Like his Great Grandfather Guillaume, Jean-Charles also migrated away from the home of his ancestors, and I shall try to understand why Jean-Charles left Charlesbourg for "Petite côte" along the Detroit River sometime around 1773. It would be worth a more in-depth study to determine if Jean-Charles undertook this journey alone or if there was a group of families who made the same decision and travelled together. Finally, I shall explore the family of his wife, Marie Madeleine Bertrand and the situation that brought together a 14-year-old girl and a nearly 37-year-old man in addition to tracing the births and deaths of their children until their own deaths.
Jean-Charles' plays a pivotal role in La Ligne. In addition to the migration of the family line from Quebec to what would become Southern Ontario, Jean-Charles produced many offspring who survived well into adulthood and had multiple male heirs. While Jean-Charles was one of 8 children of which only 4 are known to have lived into adulthood, he fathered 14 children, 11 of which are known to have lived to be adults, which is an impressive feat given he married later in life already being 36. His spouse on the other hand, Marie Madeleine Bertrand, was only one month shy of her 14th birthday at the time they were married so perhaps the size and vigor of the offspring owes more to her than him. While child brides were not unheard of, they certainly were not the norm but that would explain why the couple would be able to produce fourteen offspring in 25 years. Oddly, Jean-Charles would outlive his child bride by 2 years! He packed a lot in his 64 years of life.
The documentary evidence of Jean-Charles' life is not as robust as his predecessors. His activities in Quebec are not readily known. I could not find any documentation tracking his activities during the Seven Years War though he likely played a role in the defense of the colony either by joining the militia or maintaining a farm and supplying the troops. I have not been able to find any record of muster rolls for the Canadian militia during this period.
There is a lack of documentation immediately after the war and one of the reasons could be the general confusion resulting from the British takeover of the colony. While both James Murray, the civil governor of the province, and his successor Lieutenant-Governor Guy Carleton were more than sympathetic to the French-Canadien inhabitants, they had to answer to the King back in England and the English merchants who moved into Quebec and who had their own interests. It took quite a while for things to settle down and a coherent policy and government structure put in place. While the Proclamation of 1763 laid out some broad boundaries, Murray found it difficult to implement and he was eventually recalled. Even English jurists questioned the King's authority upon which the Proclamation was based. [i]
The reconciliation of French and English law was challenging as well. Murray had little to go on during his time other than the Proclamation of 1763 which promised the benefits of English law to the inhabitants most notably the creation of an assembly, whereas Quebec was previously governed by a Council. Murray's ordinances were subject to constant questioning by the English merchants who wanted more of a voice. Neither did Murray have command of the British military which was a source of grief for him as it undermined his enforcement powers.[ii]
The British also struggled to control the expansive area for which they just assumed responsibility. Their main concern was on the populated area around Quebec City and Montreal and how to incorporate them into the British Empire and trade network. The need to make money off this acquisition was important to defray the enormous costs it took to defeat the French. There was little concern for the largely unpopulated areas except to avoid any disputes with the native populations which the British tried to do by licensing fur traders and limiting settlement in the area.[iii]
It was not until 1774 with the passage of the Quebec Act that the issue of governance in Quebec was clearly resolved with the reinstatement of French Civil Law in Quebec. The Act also protected the rights of the Catholic Church, allowing it to collect tithes and maintain influence and become a power broker to potentially support the British Crown with the growing unrest in the American Thirteen Colonies with which the Canadians had both a history of trade but also conflict.
However, Jean-Charles had already departed Charlesbourg prior to the Quebec Act and settled in the parish of L'Assumption. Technically, Jean-Charles' relocation was not a departure from Quebec since the Quebec Act of 1774 extended "Quebec" to include the Ohio Valley and the Great Lakes Region. It is only in retrospect that Jean-Charles can be said to have left Quebec. Nevertheless, it is an extraordinary journey that would be easy to overlook. He travelled well over seven hundred miles (over 1100 kilometers). It would take nearly 14 hours to drive the distance today. It could be assumed that the journey was done over land, but it could also have been a mixture of land and water. There is no telling how long it took Jean-Charles to complete this journey or if he travelled alone or if others went with him.
French settlers had been in the area across from Fort Detroit before 1749 when a chapel was built at the location that would later become the parish of L'Assumption. In 1765, there were more than 60 families living on the south shore across from Detroit and they petitioned for a parish of their own to serve them as well as the Huron Indians living in the area that had been converted to Christianity The new church, a 60 x 30 ft building was finished and opened in 1767 when Father Potier became the first pastor and created the first Register of Baptisms and Marriages.[iv]
We do not know specifically when Jean-Charles left his home in Charlesbourg. He likely would not have left in the Winter so perhaps as late as the Spring of 1773 since we know he was married on 12 July 1773. We do not know if this marriage had been pre-arranged before Jean-Charles arrived or if it took shape once Jean-Charles arrived. The Bertrand family had made a similar move a few years before Jean-Charles. While his bride Marie-Magdeleine was born in Les Cèdres in the parish of St. Joseph's Soulanges Quebec on August 31, 1759, the Bertrand family had been in the parish of Assumption since at least 1768 when they gave birth to their son Jean-Baptiste Bertrand.
Marie was the daughter of Jean-Baptiste Bertrand and Marie Magdeleine Martin. Her father Jan-Baptiste was born in Soulanges Quebec 27 May 1732 the son of Jean-Francois Bertrand and Marie Madeleine Meunier. Jean Francois Bertrand was born in Charlesbourg on 15 March 1689, the son of Jean Bertrand and Marguerite Tessier. Jean was born in Saintes, France and came to Canada sometime before 1685 when he married Marguerite.
A little more than a year later they gave birth to their first child, Marie Magdelene, who was baptized on August 24, 1774. The godfather was Thomas Pagot, and the godmother was also the child's grandmother Marie Magdelene Martin.
Just as Jean-Charles and Marie were beginning their new lives, the world was about to change as the former competitors and enemies of the French-Canadien population to the south grew increasingly distrustful and dissatisfied with the British Crown in part by the passage of the Quebec Act which extended Quebec's borders into the Ohio River and Mississippi River Valley's. The conciliatory approach of the British Crown with the Catholic French also contributed to the growing dissatisfaction of the Thirteen Colonies.
[i] Neatby, Hilda, Quebec: The Revolutionary Age 1760-1791 (Toronto 1966), Chapters 4 and 5.
[ii] Neatby, Chapters 4 and 5.
[iii] Johnson, Leo A., History of the County of Ontario 1615-1875 (Whitby, Ontario 1973), pp 20-21.
[iv] See https://assumptionparish.ca/about/history