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.