"In memory
of
Mary,
wife of Thomas Ainslie, Esq.,
Collector of His Majesty's Customs of Quebec,
who died March 14th, 1767,
aged 25 years.
If Virtues Charms had pow'r to save
Her faithful votaries, from the grave;
With Beauty's ev'ry form supply'd
The lovely AINSLIE ne'er had died."
[67] John Hale who died in 1842, had six sons: 1st, Edward, who died at Quebec in May, 1874; 2nd, Jeffery Hale; 3rd, Miss Hale; 4th, Bernard Hale, now in England; 5th, Richard Hale, late 81st; 6th, William, late Capt. 52nd, who died at Ste. Anne, district of Three Rivers, about 1845; 7th, Mrs. Hotham; 8th, George Hale; 9th, Miss Elizabeth Harriet Hale, who in 1838 married Commander John Orlebar, R.N.
[68] We are indebted to Professor H. LaRue, M.D., for the following notes relative to an address delivered by him at a dinner given by the Notaries Public in 1872:—"The first physician who entered Quebec narrowly escaped being hung," says Dr. LaRue. "I said that he had narrowly escaped the gallows; had he been hung I would not say it. It occurred thus:—Champlain had just landed in the Lower Town and had laid the foundation of his abode, when some of his followers hatched a plot against his life. The scheme leaked out, the ring leader was arraigned, found guilty and hung; so far as I know, this was the first execution which took place in Canada. Some how or other, Surgeon Bonnerme, one of Champlain's followers, was mixed up in the matter, imprisoned, but his innocence having shortly after been established, he was acquitted. Dr Bonnerme died the following year (1609) at Quebec, of scurvy. If Bonnerme was the first physician who came to Quebec, he was not, for all that, the first medical man who landed in New France; another had preceded him: Louis Hebert, the first citizen of Quebec and of all Canada. Before Hebert's day the French who came to Quebec came there for no other object than barter, hunting and fishing; none had thought of settling permanently there. Louis Hebert was the first proprietor in Quebec, the first land owner in Canada; as such, historians recognize him as the first Citizen of Quebec—the first Canadian: a surgeon, let us bear in mind. Louis Hebert visited New France in 1606, two years before the foundation of Quebec. He spent the winter of 1606-7—a merry one—at Port Royal, Acadia, in the company of Samuel de Champlain and Lescarbot. Lescarbot was the first lawyer who found his way to New France; Lescarbot was the first historian of the country; he was gifted with wit—a proclivity to mild satire; each page of his history reveals the lawyer familiar with the Bar and its lively forensic display. The winter of 1606-7, at Port Royal, was remarkable for good cheer; appetising repasts, the product of the chase or of the sea, were the order of the day to that extent that Lescarbot declared that Port Royal fare was as recherché as that of Rue aux Ours, in Paris—apparently the "Palais Royal" of the French capital in those times. The third or fourth physician of New France was Robert Giffard, Seignior of Beauport, who also was the first settler in that parish; not only was Giffard the first resident of Beauport, but, I have reason to believe, he was also the first settler— habitant—of the rural districts in Canada. Thus, the first citizen of all Canada would appear to have been a physician; thus, after Champlain the two founders of the colony would have been physicians. Giffard's Lodge was situated on some portion of Col. Gugy's farm; the leading families of Canada look to Giffard as one of their progenitors; Archbishop Taschereau is one of his descendants.
"The first Royal Notary—Notaire Royal—of Canada was M. Audouard, whose first minute rests in the vaults of the Prothonotary of Quebec. But two deeds at least had been executed before this first minute. The deed of partage of the Hébert family (1634), and the last will of Champlain (1635). These two instruments were executed before Mêtres Duchaîne and De la Ville, greffiers; the greffiers were Notaires also. Another fact worthy of note is that the first time a Notary's services were put in requisition was at the instance of the heirs of Hébert, the physician."— Morning Chronicle, 12th April, 1881.
[69] Chansons populaires du Canada, &c., par Ernest Gagnon, 1865.
[70] The father of French-Canadian history; born in 1809, died in 1866.
[71] The tablet on his monument, in Mount Hermon Cemetery, bears the following inscription:—
IN MEMORY OF ROBERT CHRISTIE, ESQ.
A native of Nova Scotia, he early adopted Canada as his country, and during a long life faithfully served her. In the War in 1812 as a Captain, 4th Batt., he defended her frontier; in peace, during upwards of 30 years, he watched over her interests as member of Parliament for the County of Gaspé; and in the retirement of his later years recorded her annals as her historian.
He died at Quebec on the 13th October, 1856, aged 68, leaving behind him the memory of a pure career and incorruptible character.