Saturday 20 February 2010

talon

In the 1650s, Montreal still had only a few dozen settlers and a severely underpopulated New France almost fell completely to hostile Iroquois forces. In 1660, settler Adam Dollard des Ormeaux led a Canadian and Huron militia against a much larger Iroquois force; none of the Canadians survived, but they succeeded in turning back the Iroquois invasion. In 1663, New France finally became more secure when Louis XIV made it a royal province. In 1665, he sent a French garrison, the Carignan-Salières Regiment, to Quebec. The government of the colony was reformed along the lines of the government of France, with the Governor General and Intendant subordinate to the Minister of the Marine in France. In 1665, Jean Talon was sent by Minister of the Marine Jean-Baptiste Colbert to New France as the first Intendant. These reforms limited the power of the Bishop of Quebec, who had held the greatest amount of power after the death of Champlain

joseph frobisher

Frobisher, Joseph (1740-1810), fur-trader, was born in Halifax, Yorkshire, England, on April 15, 1740. He appears to have followed his brother Benjamin to Canada, and to have first gone to the West in 1768. It is known that he made an attempt to pass beyond Grand Portage in 1769, but was turned back by the Indians. The statement is made in the McDonell diary, under date of September 4, 1793, that he wintered on the Red river in 1770-1; but this statement is open to doubt. Certainly he reached the Saskatchewan in 1773, with his brother Thomas; and spent the winter near the site of what afterwards became Fort Cumberland. In 1774-5 he wintered on the Athabaska river, in the hope of cutting off the fur-rade from Fort Churchill, and nearly perished of starvation. He was an original member of the North West Company in 1779; and he became one of its great figures. On the death of his brother Benjamin in 1787, he joined forces with Simon McTavish, to form McTavish, Frobisher and Co., which was for many years the virtual directorate of the North West Company. He retired from business in 1798, and lived at his place, Beaver Hall, in Montreal. He represented the East Ward of Montreal in the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada from 1792 to 1796; and he died in Montreal on September 12, 1810. In 1779 he married Charlotte Joubert, of Montreal. His letter-book and his "Diary of my dinners" are preserved in the Library of McGill University.

Sunday 14 February 2010

marx famous canadians

Sir Guy Carleton




CARLETON, Sir Guy, LOAD DORCHESTER, British soldier, born in Strabane, Ireland, 3 September, 1724; died in Maidenhead, 10 November, 1808. He greatly distinguished himself at the sieges of Louisburg, Quebec, and Belle Isle, and was wounded at the siege of Havana in 1762. In 1772 he became governor of Quebec, which he defended against the American army in December, 1775. He commanded the army that invaded New York in 1776, and fought a battle against Arnold on Lake Champlain. In 1777, on the nomination of Burgoyne to the command, he threw up his commission, but was appointed the same year lieutenant-general, and in 1781 appointed commander-in-chief in place of Sir Henry Clinton. When peace was concluded in 1783 he returned to England and was raised to the peerage.--His brother, Thomas, British soldier, born in 1736; died in Ramsgate, England, 2 February, 1817. He was appointed an ensign in Wolfe's regiment in 1755, became a captain in 1759, was brevetted major in 1773. appointed quartermaster-general of the army in Canada in November, 1775, lieutenant colonel of the 19th regiment in 1776, and colonel of the 29th on 20 November, 1782.
He was wounded in the naval conflict with Arnold on Lake Champlain in 1776.
When New Brunswick, previously a county of Nova Scotia, was organized as a separate province in 1784, he was appointed lieutenant governor of the new colony, and at the same time governor and commander-in-chief of Nova Scotia and Canada, taking the oath of office on 16 August, 1784. In 1786 he was superseded as governor-general of British North America, but retained the office of lieutenant governor of New Brunswick until his death. He resided in the colony continuously for nineteen years, and then went to England with the intention of returning at the end of two years, but remained there, the government being carried on for fourteen years by eight administrators. He was advanced to the rank of major general in the army in 1793, lieutenant-general in 1798, and genera.1 in 1803.