Fonds

The families that are the focus of this fonds marked the history of Quebec in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, and are closely associated with the seigneuries of Saint-Hyacinthe (Montérégie) and La Petite-Nation (Outaouais). Here are some of the most well-known members of these families.

Born in Quebec City, politician JEAN DESSAULLES (1766-1835) inherited a large parcel of land in the Saint-Hyacinthe seigneury in 1814. He married Marie-Rosalie Papineau, the sister of Louis-Joseph, in 1816. The couple had six children, including Louis-Antoine (1818-1895) and Georges-Casimir (1827-1930).

MARIE-ROSALIE PAPINEAU DESSAULLES (1788-1857) was the youngest daughter of Joseph Papineau, and the wife of Jean Dessaulles. After her husband died, Marie-Rosalie agreed to give the seigneury to her oldest son, Louis-Antoine Dessaulles.

LOUIS-ANTOINE DESSAULLES (1818-1895) was a renowned politician, author and journalist, a member of the Liberal party and Mayor of Saint-Hyacinthe from 1849 to 1857. Following an expensive misadventure involving the construction of a railway line in the region, Louis-Antoine had to sell the seigneury in 1867. In 1875 he left the country permanently for Europe; he died in Paris in 1895. Married to Zéphirine Thompson, he had one daughter, Caroline (baptized Caroline-Angélina), who married Frédéric-Ligori Béique.

GEORGES-CASIMIR DESSAULLES (1827-1930) was the youngest son of Jean Dessaulles and Marie-Rosalie Papineau. In the 1850s, convinced that the estate was being mismanaged by their older brother Louis-Antoine, Georges-Casimir and Rosalie-Eugénie (1822-1902) demanded that the Saint-Hyacinthe seigneury be subdivided into three equal parcels. The share given to Georges-Casimir was named the Yamaska seigneury. Georges-Casimir pursued a career in politics (he was notably Mayor of Saint-Hyacinthe from 1868 to 1897 and became a senator in 1907), in addition to being President of the Bank of Saint-Hyacinthe (which he founded in 1874) for many years. In 1857, he married Émilie Mondelet, who died in 1867. In 1869, he got married again, this time to Fanny (baptized Frances Louise) Leman, the daughter of Dr. Dennis Leman and Honorine Papineau. He had two girls and one boy (Alice Beaudry, Henriette Saint-Jacques and Arthur) with his first wife and five children with his second wife (Rosalie, Fanny, Emma, Casimir and Henri).

HENRIETTE DESSAULLES SAINT-JACQUES (1860-1946) was the daughter of Georges-Casimir Dessaulles and Émilie Mondelet. In 1881, she married Maurice Saint-Jacques, with whom she had seven children. Following her husband's death, she began a prolific career as a journalist, writing for numerous newspapers, including Le Devoir. Although renowned for her lively, informed writing during her lifetime, she also achieved prominence after her death, with the posthumous publication in 1971 of her diary, Fadette : Journal d’Henriette Dessaulles. Also published in English as Hopes and Dreams, The Diary of Henriette Dessaulles, in 1986, this work offered an intimate portrait of young Henriette from 1874 to 1881.

A surveyor and notary by profession, JOSEPH PAPINEAU (1752-1841) acquired the La Petite-Nation seigneury between 1801 and 1803. In 1809, he added Île Roussin to his holdings and managed his land with the help of his son Denis-Benjamin.

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU (1786-1871) was the son of Joseph Papineau and Marie-Rosalie Cherrier Papineau (1756-1832). Thanks to his leading role in the 1837-1838 Rebellions, this lawyer, military man and politician marked the collective memory of Quebecers. Although he took over the administration of the La Petite-Nation seigneury in 1817, he did not in fact live there until he returned from exile in France in 1847.

Merchant, civil servant and politician DENIS-BENJAMIN PAPINEAU (1789-1854) was the younger brother of Louis-Joseph. He was also the administrator of the La Petite-Nation seigneury until 1817. His marriage with Angélique-Louise Cornud produced nine children, including Joseph-Benjamin-Nicolas, a surveyor (1814-1898), and Agathe-Honorine Papineau Leman.

ANGÉLIQUE-LOUISE CORNUD PAPINEAU (1785-1870) was a friend of Marie-Rosalie Papineau Dessaulles, and married her brother, Denis-Benjamin Papineau, in 1813.

The daughter of Denis-Benjamin Papineau and Angélique-Louise Cornud Papineau, AGATHE-HONORINE PAPINEAU (1818-1891) married Protestant physician Dennis Leman in 1837. The couple had two children, Joseph Leman (1842-1885), also a physician, and France Louise Leman (1844-1914), before Dr. Leman died an early death in 1846, following a bout of tuberculosis.

CAROLINE-ANGÉLINA DESSAULLES BÉIQUE (1852-1946) was the daughter of Louis-Antoine Dessaulles and Zéphirine Thompson. A prominent social activist and feminist, she also co-founded (with Marie Gérin-Lajoie) the Fédération nationale Saint-Jean-Baptiste, the first Francophone alliance of women's groups.