Pelletier, Hon. Honoré Cyrias, Puisné Judge of the Superior Court of the province of Quebec, with place of residence at Rimouski, was born at Cacouna, in the county of Kamouraska, on the 28th November, 1840, from the marriage of François Pelletier, farmer, and Françoise Caron, who lived in Cacouna, and removed later on to St. Arsène, county of Temiscouata. Justice Pelletier was educated at the Seminary of Quebec, and graduated bachelier-ès-lettres et ès-sciences at Laval University, where he also followed the law course for three years. He then entered the law office of L. G. Baillairgé, in Quebec, and was called to the bar of the province on the 8th of October, 1866. He practised his profession in Quebec, forming partnerships successively with A. Benoit, H. J. J. Duchesnay, and J. E. Bédard. In 1879 he was made a Queen’s counsel; and was elevated to the bench on the 12th of April, 1886, on the death of the late Judge Mousseau. Judge Pelletier was married twice, the first time to Tharsile Gourdeau, a daughter of F. Gourdeau, who was harbor master of Quebec, in 1869; and the second time to Célina Moraud, a daughter of J. B. Moraud, N.P., of Lotbinière, in 1877.
Fizét, Louis Joseph Cyprien.—This well known French Canadian poet was born in Quebec, on the 3rd October, 1825. His mother was Mary Powers, of London, England, daughter of an officer of the Royal navy; and his father the Hon. Louis Fizét,—descended from an old French family which left Dieppe, in Normandy, in 1656, and settled in Canada,—held several important official positions, including that of district judge for the district of Gaspé, and took an active and influential part in the political events that occurred in the district of Quebec anterior to the year 1840. He died in January, 1867. At a meeting of the bar of Lower Canada, held in the city of Quebec, on the 8th of that month, Hon. Charles Alleyn being in the chair, the following resolution, amongst others, was unanimously adopted: “Proposed by the Hon. J. N. Bossé, seconded by Charles J. Holt, Esq., Q.C., and resolved, that this section of the bar believes it to be its duty to render homage publicly to the memory of the deeply lamented Hon. Louis Fizét, to his virtues as a citizen, upright and honorable, who has given universal satisfaction in the fulfilment of the duties of the various public offices which he has filled, and who has deserved from all the highest testimonials of esteem in his public and private life by his constant affability, courtesy, and kindness of heart.” Louis Joseph C. Fizét, the subject of our sketch, received his education at the private school of the celebrated Doctor Wilkie, and subsequently at the Seminary of Quebec, where he had for professors, among others, the Rev. Alexandre Taschereau, who is now his Eminence Cardinal Taschereau; the Rev. Jean Langevin, now his Grace the Bishop of Rimouski; and the Rev. M. Bouchy, a distinguished French professor of rhetoric. At this latter institution he exhibited a more than ordinary aptitude and taste for literature, which evinced at this early period, that he was likely to shine as a literary man of ability later on, and which expectation has since been fully justified. As an instance of his early taste for literature, at the age of twelve years he wrote a story entitled “Vincent, le Naufragé,” the fruit of his young imagination, though distantly connected with Robinson Crusoe. When the manuscript was concluded, he would not be satisfied until he had illustrated it with colored designs, showing his hero in various adventures, and then bound it with his own hands. This early effort, though far from being a masterpiece, showed the bent of his mind at that early age. Mr. Fizét has travelled through Europe, and is well acquainted with all its more important cities, hence his natural talents have had the advantage of development through observation of the habits and customs of peoples of many different nationalities. While in Dieppe, in Normandy, France, he called on the mayor of that city, who courteously gave him an opportunity of consulting its archives. He there found the certificate of birth of the founder of his family in Canada, to whom he had traced his origin by means of certain documents and the registers of births deposited in the archives of Quebec. The certificate of birth of his ancestor, found at Dieppe, is in the following terms: “Le 31 août, 1635, est né dans cette ville Abraham, fils d’Abraham Fizét et de Catherine de la Brecque, nommé par Jacques de la Brecque et Catherine de Caux, lesquels ont signé.” This certificate satisfied him that his family name ought to be spelled thus: “Fizét,” and not Fiset. He studied law under the Hon. Ed. Bacquet, who was later appointed one of the justices of the Superior Court, and the Hon. Charles Alleyn, Q.C., and at one time provincial secretary of the united provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, and was duly admitted to the bar on the 24th of November, 1848. In 1849, like many of the young men of that time, he took an interest in politics, and was an ardent admirer of the late Sir L. H. Lafontaine, then at the head of the Lafontaine-Baldwin administration. On the day following the burning of the parliamentary buildings at Montreal, by an infuriated mob, he took passage for that city, then in the greatest agitation, and with many others, offered his services to the government to assist in the maintenance of order; but Lord Elgin, at that time governor-general of Canada, being averse to the arming of the citizens, his offer was not accepted. On that memorable occasion he wrote the following extemporaneous song which has remained in the possession of one of his then youthful friends, and which indicates the excitement prevailing at that period:
I.
Voyez venir la horde meurtrière . . .
Voyez venir les bourreaux de trente-huit!
Ils ont lancé la torche incendiaire
Contre nos toîts dans l’ombre de la nuit!
Chœur.
Serrons nos rangs, luttons contre l’orage . . .