[190] Garneau, Histoire du Canada, Edit. of 1859, Vol. II, page 104; Joseph Edmond Roy, Histoire de la Seigneurie de Lauson, Vol. I, page 495; Benjamin Suite, Histoire de la Ville de Trois Rivières, Vol. I, page 3; Phileas Gagnon, Recensements du Canada, 1871, Vol. IV. The student of the Educational System of New France should consult the work by M. L'Abbé Amédée Gosselin of Laval University, Quebec, entitled "L'Instruction au Canada Sous le régime Français."
[191] Harvard was founded in 1836. On October 28, 1836, the general court of Boston voted 400 pounds sterling for the foundation of a school destined for ministers. John Harvard arrived in 1837. He died in 1838, leaving a legacy to the school, founded two years previously, of four to five hundred pounds sterling and his library.
[192] It was this latter, who was afterwards, under the English rule, to be the first superior at the Petit Séminaire, opened officially in 1773 as the classical college of St. Raphael, the foundations of which he had laid at his presbytery at Longue Pointe. St. Raphael's College is continued under the name of the "College de Montreal" situated on Sherbrooke Street, adjoining the Grand Séminaire, both being on the historical site of the Mountain Mission.
[193] This still flourishes in its various branches in the parishes of Montreal.
[194] In 1694 an expedition was being prepared for Hudson's Bay, but the voyage being long, it was thought good to give the officers a professor of mathematics to occupy them on their way. Father de la Chauchetière was thought of, but eventually another Jesuit, Father de Silvy, an excellent mathematician, was chosen.
[195] In 1773 under the British régime the Society was suppressed by the papal brief "Dominus ac Redemptor." Gradually the members became extinct in Canada. The last of the number in Montreal, whose death was registered in 1791, was Father J. B. Well, celebrated for the length of his sermons, as well as for his goodness of heart. The last Jesuit in Quebec was Father Casot, who died in 1800. The Jesuit estates then were annexed by the crown. It was not till 1847 that the second attempt at a clerical college was made with success when the Jesuits rehabilitated, as an order, after having been recalled to Canada by Bishop Ignace Bourget of Montreal, commenced the present college of Ste. Marie on Bleury Street, which was not ready for occupation till 1851. A school was, however, opened in 1848 in a frame house still standing in 1914 on the southeast corner of St. Alexander and Dorchester Streets. The Church of the Gesu on Bleury Street was not opened for service till December 3, 1865.
[196] In justice to Chretien Turc it must be said that his object was rather to raise funds by embarking on a mercantile project so as to restore the fortunes of the Montreal hospital. Here he failed again, being a man of good heart, but of no business capacity. He left an honoured name in St. Domingo as a worker in charitable causes, but he begged to be relieved of the financial responsibility.