Cultural References:  Economic, Social and Cultural change

Various resources have been collected together here to help describe the profound economic, cultural and societal changes that occurred in the new British colony of Quebec.

 

Humble Petition

"humble Petition of Your Majesty’s Ancient and New Subjects Inhabitants of the Province of Quebec"
Full English text is available here. )

 

The Baby Family
"Some French-speaking merchants did re-establish themselves in the fur trade, often in partnership with the new Anglo-American merchants moving into Montreal [...].  Members of the Baby Family, for example, had considerable success repositioning themselves as the leading figures in the Great Lakes fur trade after 1763."  Excerpt from the book "he Fur Trade in Canada: An Illustrated History By Michael Payne" available for browsing online via Google Book Search here.

François Baby was an example of a leading French-speaking fur trader who not only continued his family business during the English colonial period, but he also became an active participant in the new Province of Quebec.   "Baby was appointed to the Legislative Council for the Province of Quebec in 1778 by Governor Haldimand who also made him part of his unconstitutional privy council around that time. (This appointment placed him on the Legislative Council of Lower Canada when it was formed in 1792."  (Source:  Wikipedia entry on François Baby here)

"Jacques Baby, dit Dupéront (1731–August 1789) was a Canadian fur trader and an employee of the British Indian Department. He was born in Montreal in 1731. He was a trader and Indian agent at Logstown, near the current location of Ambridge, Pennsylvania. After the fall of New France in 1760, he refused to swear allegiance to George III. After he learned that his brother François was transferring operations from France to London, Baby swore the oath of allegiance and resumed trading in the Detroit area."  (Source:  Wikipedia entry on Jacques Baby) 

François Baby (1733-1820)
"From France, François endeavoured to ensure the supply of trade goods to his brothers and maintained contacts with British and French trading houses. When it became clear that the conquered colony would remain a British possession, he liquidated most of the family’s French assets and oversaw the transfer of commercial relations to London in order to be of consequence in the reconstituted trade."
[...]
" Baby returned to Montreal late in 1763 and once again acted as intermediary for Antoine and Jacques, who were based at Detroit (Mich.). However, he soon established his own wholesale business at Quebec, importing British spirits and manufactures;"
[...]
"Like most merchants in the highly unstable commercial context of the 1760s, Baby sought security through diversification. He added to his items of commerce such products as planks, peas, oats, apples, silverware, cottons, helmet plumes, and maidenhair ferns, valued for their medicinal properties."
(Source: Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online entry on Baby here)


Quebec Gazette

Bilingual statement of the paper's mission and vision.  (PDF of microfilm page on the Socami site.

(Coming soon)

 

The Cuthbert Chapel

(Coming soon)

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