Fonds

The fonds focusses on the Leclère family, some of whose members were public figures in Montreal, Lower Canada, the United Province of Canada and the Province of Quebec. Most of them lived in Montreal or the surrounding area, notably in Saint-Hyacinthe.

Pierre-Édouard Leclère, père, was born February 10, 1798, in Montreal, the son of Pierre Leclère, dit Lafrenaye, and Marie-Anne Bourg. In 1820, he married Marie Josephte (or Josette) Castonguay, with whom he had 17 children, including Pierre-Édouard, fils, Charles Ambroise and Georges Samuel.

He began training as a notary in 1813, working with three influential clerks at the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada: maîtres Louis Chaboillez, Jean-Marie Mondelet and André Jobin. He was commissioned in 1825 and opened an office in Montreal, where he practised until 1840.

Named Montreal's police superintendent in 1830, Pierre-Édouard Leclère was tasked with reorganizing the force at a time of growing influence of the Patriote party, whose ideas he firmly opposed. In the years that followed, he created networks of informers to infiltrate the Patriote party and played an active role in repressing the movement, pursuing rebels (real and imagined) as far as the American border. He was then made a justice of the peace and took part in the commission that examined compensation for losses suffered during the Rebellions of 1837-1838.

Pierre-Édouard Leclère became the owner of the newspaper The Canadian Spectator in 1826, and owned L'Ami du people, de l'ordre et des lois from 1832 to 1836. The latter played a key role in disseminating loyalist ideas. Leclère also founded Le Journal du commerce in 1835.

In 1840, he moved from Montreal to Saint-Hyacinthe, where he worked as a notary until at least 1859. He also held the office of stipendiary magistrate until 1843, along with that of president of the Agricultural Society of Lower Canada, and became a shareholder in the Société de navigation de la rivière Richelieu in 1845. Pierre-Édouard Leclère died in Montreal, in 1866.

Pierre-Édouard Leclère, fils, (1822-1892) married Henriette Brewer (1835-1924) in 1857. The couple lived in Saint-Hyacinthe and had two children: Pierre Édouard and Alphonse Édouard.

Charles Ambroise Leclère (1825-1870?) studied at the Séminaire de Saint-Hyacinthe during the 1840s and married Élizabeth Archambault in 1859.

Like his brother, Georges Samuel Leclère (1827-pre-1907) studied at the Séminaire de Saint-Hyacinthe during the 1840s. After marrying Corinne Turgeon (1832-1907) in 1855, he had a number of children with her, including Marie, Charles, Gustave-Louis, Georges Ovide, Eugène and Hélène. A resident of Saint-Hyacinthe, Georges Samuel Leclère was named secretary of the Agricultural Council of Quebec in August 1869.

Georges Ovide Leclère (1865-1900) was the son of Georges Samuel Leclère and Corinne Turgeon. Although he was enrolled in the Université Laval Faculty of Medicine (Montreal section) in the early 1880s, he instead pursued a career in the field of finance and commerce. In 1892, he was working at a bank when he married Yvonne Mathieu (about 1873-after 1921), the daughter of Adolphe Mathieu (about 1849-?), a lawyer, and Marie Louise Desjardins. The couple had five children. Georges Ovide Leclère also partnered with his brother Eugène in Leclère Bros., a wholesaler specializing in boots and shoes. He died prematurely in 1900s.