"In St. John Suburbs there were only a few houses on St. John and St. George's streets and St. Louis Suburbs which, in 1775, contributed but three militia-men, viz—Jean Dobin, gardener, Jos. Proveau, carter, and Jacques Dion, mason, could boast of only one house, and the nearest one to it was Powell Place, Spencer Wood.
"On the St. Foy Road there was no house beyond the mineral well in St.
John Suburbs, until you came to the Haut Bijou—Mr. Stewart's. The
population of the city was then estimated at 12,000.
"I wonder if your friend Col. Strange is aware that his old friend
Sergt. Hugh McQuarters, of 1775 fame, was led captive to Hymen's altar
by the winning smiles and bright eyes of a belle Canadienne,
Mam'selle Victoire Fréchette. She died on the 12th October, 1812.
"Not having seen a copy of the address of Henri Taschereau, Esq., M.P. before the Canadian Institute on the American Invasion of '75, I am not aware if he alluded to the facet that Captain and Paymaster Gabriel Elzéar Taschereau took part in the 'l'affaire du Sault-au- Matelot.'
"Thus, by degrees, you see some little odds and ends of Quebec history are coming to light.
"I remain, "(Signed,) C. J. O'LEARY.
"J. M. LEMOINE, Esq."
In the present day the prolongation of the wharf has left no trace of it; the Station of the North Shore Railway covers a portion of this area.
"Church" street (la rue de l'Église), doubtless owes its name to the erection of the beautiful Saint Roch Church, towards 1812, the site of which was given by the late Honorable John Mure, who died in Scotland in 1823.
Saint Roch, like the Upper Town, comprises several Fiefs, proceeding from the Fief of the Seminary and reaching as far as the Gas Wharf; the beaches with the right of fishing belonged originally to the Hôtel-Dieu by a concession dated the 31st March, 1648, but they have since been conceded to others. The Crown possesses an important reserve towards the west of this grant; then comes the grant made, in 1814 or 1815, to the heirs of William Grant, now occupied by several ship-yards. Jacques Cartier who, in 1535-6, wintered in the vicinity of Saint Roch, left his name to an entire municipal division of this rich suburb, as well as to a spacious market hall. (The Jacques Cartier Market Hall.) The first secular priest, who landed in Quebec on the 8th August, 1634, and who closed his days in the Hôtel-Dieu on the 29th November, 1668, Jean le Sueur de Saint Sauveur, left his name to what now constitutes the populous municipality of Saint Sauveur. (Casgrain, Historie de l'Hôtel-Dieu, p. 81.)