FOOTNOTES:
[44] Dollier de Casson says that Montreal was all handed over on October 15, 1641. Vimont, who was an eye witness, gives the date as May 17, 1642. See "Relations for 1642." We combine both accounts.
[45] The scene was the angular tongue of low-lying land, known by Dollier de Casson who came in 1666, on September 7, as "the Common," its memory being preserved by Common Street, watered on the south by the lapping waters of the great St. Lawrence and on the east by the narrow river St. Peter, long since dried up, which, meandering from the northwest, skirted the meadow on the north and emptied itself into the main stream. At this point and up this harbour the flotilla came to anchor. On the third side of this triangle was a marshy land which was dried up by Dollier de Casson and became the "domaine des Seigneurs."
[46] Later this chapel gave place to another 25 feet long by 26 broad, the former room now becoming a "parloir." The new meeting place in the fort is sometimes spoken of as the chapel or the church. The abbé, Louis Bertrand de la Tour, says there was a church in 1645. We may thus put it earlier.—"Annales des Hospitalières par la Sœur Morin."
[47] "The house of the fort," says Sister Morin in her Annals, "existed till 1682 or 1683, when they finished demolishing it, although it was only of wood, where is at present the house of M. de Callières, our governor today." On July 2nd, 1688, de Callières obtained a concession of the land occupied by the fort. The land book (livre terrier) of the Seminary has the description: "Quinze perches et demie de front sur le fleuve, à continuer à pareille larguer jusqu'au bord de la petite rivière; en superficie 1882 ½ touses, avec droit de passage, sur la pointe en avant, appartenant aux Seigneurs." This point was the original cemetery till 1654. From Callières' building the Place Royale began to be spoken of as the Pointe à Callières. Jacques Viger, one of the fathers of historical researches in Montreal, said that in his early days he had seen the ruins of de Callières' house.
[48] The parish register has frequent records of their names as sponsors for the baptized Indian children. They were proud of the honour. Among the names frequently occurring in the following few years are Madame d'Ailleboust, Jeanne Mance, Philipine de Boulogne, Charlotte Barré, Catherine Lezeau and Madame de la Peltrie. Next year, 1644, there is only one baptism recorded; the Iroquois were on the warpath and had driven the Hurons away. The godmother on this occasion was Madame de la Peltrie. The date, January 21, 1644, in the parish register fixing this, shows that she had spent the winter of 1643-4 in Montreal. She left, when the river opened in the spring, to return to the Ursulines of Quebec, whose establishment she had founded and with whom she resided till her death. Her stay in Montreal had been prolonged by her interest in the new foundation, and by her desire to help it in its early struggles. Her departure was deeply regretted by the colony, and by none more than by Jeanne Mance, for there were all too few ladies to help in the devoted work. M. de Puiseaux left at the same time. Madame de la Peltrie's character has been frequently discussed. Kingsford in his "History of Canada" devotes two pages to her. As Montreal only had her presence for less than two years we have given this note as the impression left of her by all the Montreal chroniclers. Kingsford says, Vol. I, p. 165: "Much romance has been thrown over a somewhat commonplace character. Her portraits remain. A more coquettish, heartless form of beauty is seldom to be found, either under the adornment of fashion or the hood and veil of the devotee." Madame de la Peltrie never became a nun. It is to be feared that Kingsford theorized on matters of Catholic custom through lack of adequate knowledge, or appreciation.
[49] In the parish church of Notre Dame there is still preserved the first register of the births, marriages and deaths. It is a manuscript volume in quarto composed of five note-books. The earliest entries are in Latin and are ratified by either Père Poncet or Père Duperon, who served the mission. The first registers were probably written on fly sheets in 1646 and afterwards copied, for until June 24th the handwriting appears to be that of a copyist. There are certain blanks as if the names had been forgotten. The baptismal book appears to start with an error. The first baptism, that of an Indian child, is put down for April 28, 1642 (this is probably the date of Father Poncet's appointment), whereas Père Vimont in his "Relations" for 1642, says it was on July 1st. The second baptism took place on October 9th. Several other baptisms are marked down for the month of March, 1643, but the copyist, better informed, has written "August" between the lines. In those days handwriting and spelling were not "de rigueur."
[50] This spot, named Pointe à Callières, "ad confluxium magni et parvi fluminis," was at the junction of the River St. Peter and the St. Lawrence opposite Ile Normandin, and took its name from the house of the governor, then Chevalier Hector de Callières, built there in 1668. It is now occupied by the custom house (1914). The plans of the Château Callières are preserved in the plans of Montreal, 1723, by M. de Catalogne, and in those of 1761 by M. P. Labrosse. This remained a cemetery till 1654, when, owing to the inundations, the burials were transferred to a plot occupied in part today by that Place d'Armes, which, being in the neighbourhood of the hospital, was called in the act of burial of 1654 the "new hospital cemetery." The bodies were not removed, out of respect, till 1793, when the land had been ceded by the seigneurs to Louis Guy, notary, by an act passed before Joseph Papineau, November 22, 1749. The Hôtel-Dieu ground was used as the cemetery for twenty-five years.
[51] Dollier de Casson tells this story, which he had from eye-witnesses; de Maisonneuve was a very generous and unselfish man.
[52] The more so, as the publication of the "véritables motifs," issued by the Associates of the Company of Montreal in defense of the settlement in clearly stating its aims and justifying the singlemindedness of its promoters, had gained it many friends, among whom were many in high places.