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Fonds - Cuthbert Family | McCord Museum
Image Not Availablefor Famille Cuthbert
Famille Cuthbert
Image Not Available

Fonds

Cuthbert Family
Date 1648-1971
Dimensions285.6 cm of textual records and other documents
Object NumberP105
CollectionMcCord
CreditGift of Mrs. A. R. Bostwick Gift of Dr. Wendy C. Weaver Gift of Mrs. Katherine Cuthbert Skelton (Weaver)
Biographical Sketch

A career military man of Scottish origin, JAMES CUTHBERT I (1719?-1798) settled in Quebec City in December 1762, as a member of General Murray's staff. After leaving the army, he purchased the seigneury of Berthier in 1765 and, between 1770 and 1781, acquired Lanoraie and D'Autray, as well as Du Sablé and Maskinongé. He also owned a summer home in Beauport and, in December 1797, bought several properties in Montreal, including a large lot on Saint-Louis Hill. In 1766, he married his second wife, Catherine Cairns (1745-1785), with whom he had three sons and seven daughters. After his death, his sons divided his estate.

Son of James Cuthbert I and Catherine Cairns, JAMES CUTHBERT II (1769-1849) studied at the English College in Douai, France, and was then a member of the British infantry until 1797. In 1798, he inherited the seigneury of Berthier. James Cuthbert was the member for Warwick County at the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada (1796-1811) and a militia officer until 1813. Appointed to the Legislative Council (1811-1838), he was then a member and the Presiding Officer of the Special Council of Lower Canada (1838-1841). On June 22, 1814, he married his second wife, Marie Louise Amable Cairns (1788-1878), with whom he had four sons and two daughters.

GEORGE ROSS CUTHBERT (1776-1861) was the son of James Cuthbert I and Catherine Cairns. He also attended the Catholic English College in Douai, France, studied law at the Inner Temple in London, and then enjoyed a brilliant career in law and politics. He represented Warwick County in the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada (1800-1810, 1812-1816, 1820), where he was a militant member of the British Party. Seigneur of Lanoraie and D'Autray, some time before 1801 he married ANNE EMILY RUSH (1779-1850) in Philadelphia, with whom he had a son and three daughters.

EDWARD OCTAVIAN CUTHBERT (1826-1890) was the son of James Cuthbert II and Marie Louise Amable Cairns. He studied at the College of Chambly and in 1853 married his niece MARY BOSTWICK (1833-1885), with whom he had two sons and three daughters. Seigneur of Berthier following the death of his father, he was also mayor of Berthier from 1868 to 1873 and from 1877 to 1878. He was elected as a member of the Conservative Party in the riding of Berthier in 1875, and again in 1878 and 1882.

CHARLES ALEXANDER FORNERET (1803-1880) was the son of George Louis Victor Forneret (1765?-1821), an infantry major, and Georgina-Davida Cuthbert (1773?-1816), daughter of James Cuthbert I. A professional notary, he married Elizabeth Barber in 1828 and had five children with her. On October 16, 1858, he married his second wife, Anny Kerrigan, with whom he had seven children.

A Montreal lawyer, EDWARD ADAMS CLARK (1800-1871) in 1832 married Georgina Mary Ann Forneret (1808-1845), the daughter of George Louis Victor Forneret and Georgina-Davida Cuthbert. The couple had seven boys and one girl. In 1851, he married GEORGIANA CUTHBERT (1803-1874), who was his first wife's cousin and the widow of Augustus David Bostwick.

AUGUSTUS DAVID BOSTWICK (?-1837) was the first husband of Georgiana Cuthbert. He was called to the Bar in 1819 and practised law in Trois-Rivières. He also worked with Hughes Heney, the grand voyer (chief road commissioner).

GEORGIANA BOSTWICK (1834-1916) was the daughter of Augustus David Bostwick and Georgiana Cuthbert. In 1855, she married militia officer JAMES WILLIAM HANSON (?-1911). The couple had no children.

Seigneur of Lanoraie, JOHN BOSTWICK (1831-1907) was the son of Augustus David Bostwick and Georgiana Cuthbert. He married ELIZABETH LLOYD MERRICK (1838?-1907) in 1860. The couple had two daughters and a son.

KATHERINE MARY CUTHBERT SKELTON (1901-1972) was the daughter of Arthur Clement Skelton (1869-1929) and Julia Cuthbert (1867-?), the daughter of Edward Octavian Cuthbert. She married Dr. RICHARD T. WEAVER (1898-1974), with whom she had one son and one daughter.

A lieutenant in the Prince of Wales Regiment, AUGUSTUS JOHN ROSS BOSTWICK (1870-1957) was the son of John Bostwick and Elizabeth Lloyd Merrick. He married MARGARET MACDONALD DICKSON (1878-1983) in 1907.


Scope and Content

This fonds chronicles the public and private lives of nearly five generations of a Quebec Anglo-Saxon family and related families. Originally from Scotland, this family line included numerous illustrious seigneurs, military men, jurists and politicians, who had a major influence on the development of the areas of D'Autray and Maskinongé. The archives document the operations and evolution of a central institution in pre-industrial Quebec: the seigneurial system. They make a significant contribution to the socio-economic history of Quebec, as well as the history of land planning in the province. This collection of documents covers a period spanning over 300 years, from the mid-17th century to the mid-to-late 20th century.

Domestic, financial, professional and recreational activities, along with the history and family relationships of James Cuthbert I and his descendants, can be pieced together with the help of this diverse corpus of biographical and genealogical documents, various notarial documents, legal and financial documents, personal notebooks and records, a scrapbook and extensive correspondence.

Several documents chronicle the administration of the seigneuries of Berthier, Lanoraie and D'Autray, and Maskinongé and Du Sablé. Some documents recount the history of these properties and the seigneurial system in New France, but the bulk are administrative, financial and legal documents related to the management of these seigneuries by generations of Cuthberts: index, account books of annual rents, abridged land registers and terriers, statements of account, financial records, payment receipts, concession, rental and service contracts, survey reports, and maps and plans referring to various concessions (pieces of land).


Classification Scheme

P105 Cuthbert Family
     P105/A Cuthbert-Bostwick Family
          P105/A1 General information
          P105/A2 James Cuthbert I
          P105/A3 James Cuthbert II and Mary Louise Amable Cairns
          P105/A4 George Ross Cuthbert and Anne Emily Rush
               P105/A4.1 Personal life
               P105/A4.2 Professional life
               P105/A4.3 Financial management
               
P105/A4.4 Leisure and recreation. - 1787-1801. DIGITIZED.
          P105/A5 Edmund William Romer Antrobus
          P105/A6 Edward Octavian Cuthbert and Mary Bostwick
          P105/A7 Charles Alfred Cuthbert
          P105/A8 Charles Alexander Forneret
          P105/A9 Edward Adams Clark
          P105/A10 Georgiana Cuthbert and Augustus David Bostwick
          P105/A11 Albert Edward Ross Cuthbert and Charlotte Alison Houston Nye
          P105/A12 Georgiana Bostwick and James William Hanson
          P105/A13 John Bostwick and Elizabeth Lloyd Merrick
          
P105/A14 Katharine Mary Cuthbert Skelton
                         M2009.31.64 Scrapbook, ca. 1934.  DIGITIZED.
          P105/A15 Augustus John Ross Bostwick and Margaret MacDonald Dickson
          P105/A16 Victor Frederick William Forneret
     P105/B Distant Families
     P105/C Seigneuries
          P105/C1 General information
          P105/C2 Seigneury of Berthier
               P105/C2.1 History
               P105/C2.2 St. Andrew's Chapel
               P105/C2.3 Financial management
               P105/C2.4 Property management and maintenance
                    P105/C2.4,1 Titles
                    P105/C2.4,2 Concession deeds of purchase and sale
                    P105/C2.4,3 Service contracts
                    P105/C2.4,4 Survey reports
                    P105/C2.4,5 Maps and plans
                    P105/C2.4,6 Land registries
                         M22078.1 Land registry for the seigneury of Berthier belonging to E. O. Cuthbert
               P105/C2.5 Miscellaneous documents
          P105/C3 Seigneury of Lanoraie and D'Autray
          P105/C4 Seigneury of Maskinongé and Du Sablé
          P105/C5 Mining operations
     P105/D Cartographic Records
     P105/E Print Materials
     P105/F Iconographic Documents


Notes

Variations in title: Formerly known as the Cuthbert and Bostwick Families Fonds.

Source of title proper: Based on the creators of the fonds.

Physical description: The fonds contains 33 iconographic documents, 18 cartographic records, 3 architectural drawings and 8 objects. The iconographic documents consist of 26 photographs, 1 hand-painted colour photograph, 3 drawings and 3 printed images.

Immediate source of acquisition: The majority of the documents in this fonds were donated to the McCord Museum by Margaret MacDonald Dickson, the widow of Augustus John Ross Bostwick, in three separate donations: one in 1958, one in 1960 and one in 1964. Wendy Weaver, Julia Cuthbert's granddaughter, donated two major additions to the fonds in 2009 and 2014.

Arrangement: The fonds was the subject of an initial classification plan in 1994. Following Mrs. Wendy Weaver's 2009 donation and a second treatment conducted in 2011, this classification was completely revised.

Language: The documents are in English and French.

Finding aids: A digital directory of the Cuthbert Family Fonds is available along with an appended list of all the print materials.

Related records in other fonds:

Documents about the Cuthbert family and its seigneuries are preserved in several BAnQ archival collections and fonds: Fonds Seigneuries de la région de Montréal (P167); Fonds Fief et seigneurie de Berthier (ZQ143); Fonds Cour supérieure. District judiciaire de Montréal. Greffes d'arpenteurs (CA601); Fonds Cour supérieure. District judiciaire de Québec. Greffes d'arpenteurs (CA301); Fonds Ministère des terres et forêts (E21); Fonds Seigneuries de Berthier (P828); and Dossier James Cuthbert (P1000,D125).

General note: The McCord Museum's collection also includes paintings, miniatures, silverware, sports medals and garments that used to belong to members of the Cuthbert family.

 

Last update: February 15, 2019


Information about the objects in our collection is updated to reflect new research findings. If you have any information to share regarding this object, please email reference.mccord@mccord-stewart.ca.

Information about rights and reproductions is available here.

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This project is made possible thanks to the generous support of the Azrieli Foundation and Canadian Heritage.