Fonds

This fonds focusses on two families that marked the political and military history of New France, the Province of Quebec and Lower Canada, in addition to playing a significant role in the development of the Lotbinière and Vaudreuil-Soulanges areas.

Originally from France, the Chartier family settled in New France in 1651 when Louis-Théandre Chartier (ca 1612-after 1680), his wife Élisabeth Damours (1622-1690) and their son René-Louis (1641-1709) arrived in Quebec City. René-Louis was the first to fully adopt the name of Chartier de Lotbinière; the surname of Lotbinière had been associated with the family since the 15^th century. He was granted the seigneury of Lotbinière in 1672. In the decades that followed, the descendants of this noble French family held prominent positions in the colonial administration, the army, the militia, and the clergy.

Following the British Conquest, naval officer and military engineer Michel Chartier de Lotbinière (1723-1798), who was the son of politician and cleric Eustache Chartier de Lotbinière (1688-1749) and the grandson of René-Louis, purchased several properties, including the seigneuries of Vaudreuil, Rigaud, Rigaud-De Vaudreuil (Beauce) and Saint-François-de-la-Nouvelle-Beauce. He eventually had to transfer these properties to his son when he experienced financial difficulties. In 1747, he married Louise-Madeleine Chaussegros de Léry (1726-1809), the daughter of Gaspard-Joseph Chaussegros de Léry (1682-1756), a celebrated army officer and the King's Chief Engineer of New France. The couple had eight children, two of whom reached adulthood.

Sympathetic to the post-Conquest regime, their son Michel-Eustache-Gaspard-Alain Chartier de Lotbinière (1748-1822) administered the family's land and led a successful career, first as an officer in the army and militia, then as a justice of the peace for the district of Montreal beginning in 1777. Entering politics, he was elected to represent the riding of York in the Assembly of Lower Canada in 1792, named Speaker of this body in 1794, and then named to the Legislative Council in 1796. He married Marie-Josephte Tonnancour in 1770. Following her death, he married Mary Charlotte Munro in 1802, with whom he had six children, three of whom reached adulthood.

In 1823, Marie-Louise-Josephte Chartier de Lotbinière (1803-1869), daughter of Michel-Eustache-Gaspard-Alain Chartier de Lotbinière and Mary Charlotte Munro, married Robert Unwin Harwood (1798-1863), a merchant and politician. This marriage sealed the alliance of the two families. The couple had ten children, including Antoine, Robert William and William Bingham.

While her sister Marie-Charlotte de Lotbinière Bingham (1805-1865) inherited the seigneury of Rigaud, Marie-Louise-Josephte received the seigneury of Vaudreuil in 1828. She entrusted its administration to her husband, who enacted a number of progressive reforms to increase productivity and benefit the tenants. Even though the seigneurial regime was abolished in 1854, the Chartier de Lotbinière-Harwoods nonetheless maintained their status in the region as Robert Unwin Harwood was elected to represent Vaudreuil in the Legislative Assembly in 1858, before winning a seat on the Legislative Council for the Rigaud division in 1860.

In addition to its alliances with the Chaussegros de Léry and Harwood families, the Chartier de Lotbinière family was associated with several other prestigious families throughout the 18^th and 19^th centuries: the de Beaujeu, the des Méloizes and the MacDonalds.