1797 in Canada
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Events from the year 1797 in Canada.
Incumbents
[edit]Federal government
[edit]- Parliament of Lower Canada: 2nd (starting January 24)
- Parliament of Upper Canada: 2nd (starting June 1)
Governors
[edit]- Governor of the Canadas: Robert Prescott
- Governor of New Brunswick: Thomas Carleton
- Governor of Nova Scotia: John Wentworth
- Commodore-Governor of Newfoundland: John Elliot
- Governor of St. John's Island: Edmund Fanning
- Governor of Upper Canada: John Graves Simcoe
Events
[edit]- David Thompson leaves Hudson's Bay Company to join North West Company.
- January 18 – This notice appears in the Quebec Gazette: "A mail for the upper counties, comprehending Niagara and Detroit, will be closed, at this office, on Monday, 30th instant, at four o'clock in the evening, to be forwarded, from Montreal, by the annual winter express, on Thursday, 2 February next."[citation needed]
- July 21 – American David McLane, being convicted of high treason, is hanged on a gibbet on the glacis of the fortifications at Quebec.[2]
Births
[edit]- April 2 – Joseph-François Deblois, lawyer, judge and political figure (d.1860)
- May 2 – Abraham Pineo Gesner, physician and surgeon, geologist, and inventor (d.1864)
- June 29 – Frederic Baraga, Roman Catholic priest, missionary, and bishop (d.1868)
- August 22 – Augustin-Magloire Blanchet, missionary (d.1887)
- October 4 – Charles-Séraphin Rodier, mayor of Montreal (d.1876)
- December 25 – Bernard Donald Macdonald, Roman Catholic priest, bishop, and school administrator (d.1859)
Deaths
[edit]- January 9 – Charles Deschamps de Boishébert et de Raffetot, military (b. 1727)
- August 3 – Jeffrey Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst, army officer (b. 1717)
- October 17 – Jean-François Hubert, bishop of Quebec (b. 1739)
Historical documents
[edit]With Maine–New Brunswick border commission's arrival, writer favourably compares this way of "settling national contests to that of the Bayonet!"[3]
Border commission member Edward Winslow writes in spirit of reconciliation to U.S. friends from before his exile at end of American Revolutionary War[4]
Lower Canada
[edit]Anyone accused of high treason or misprision or suspicion of high treason or "Treasonable practices" shall be jailed without bail for 1 year[5]
David McLane is convicted of treason after 14-hour trial and sentenced to death (Note: graphic description of method of execution)[6]
Proclamation forbids trespassing on crown land and township clergy reserve lots, and requires unauthorized settlers to vacate them[7]
Two Royal Navy commanders are "much flattered" by masters of 16 merchant ships thanking them for convoy duty "during a long and tedious traverse"[8]
Quebec City library just opened to public is "where books are let to read by the year, half year, quarter, month, or single volume"[9]
Midwife Mrs. Hebert of Lying-in-Hospital London gives evidence of "her ability[,] Judgement and experience" on Montreal medical board examination[10]
Upper Canada
[edit]Anyone who has, over past 7 years, lived or been subject in any country now at war with Britain can be forced to leave U.C. on 24 hours' notice[11]
"Principal Chiefs, Warriors and People of the Mississague Nation" sell 3,450 acres at western end of Lake Ontario to British for £75 2/6 in goods[12]
Joseph Brant and John Deserontyon negotiate compensation of $1,000 (plus $600 expenses) from New York for Kanien’kéhà:ka lands lost there[13]
Woman's land grants based on her wartime service carrying dispatches between British army units, including "three times thro [sic] the Rebel army"[14]
Militia major's son and daughters, "bred up on a better line of Life," want land grant because only that can make "them Independent & Respectable"[15]
Council president Peter Russell is against idea of granting land to wives of Assembly members because it might appear to be bribery by government[16]
New Law Society of Upper Canada is to maintain order among lawyers and create "learned and honorable body to assist their fellow subjects"[17]
Joseph Brant complains that inability to sell or rent out Grand River lands granted his people makes their future insecure[18]
Nova Scotia
[edit]Wet, cold weather has made growing "Indian corn" not practical, so farmer advises growers to plant buckwheat on sandy soil for almost as good profit[19]
Lt. Gov. John Wentworth reports on "extremely distress'd and perishing State of the Indians," who have lost both potato crop and hunting grounds[20]
Wentworth reports Maroons in Nova Scotia are undisciplined complainers, but can be taught to be productive and successful[21]
After many years on land not granted them, 8 Acadians petition for "Lands + small Marshes" in Guysborough; move is allowed "until further orders"[22]
German language religious books for sale, including hymns used by Protestant Lutheran congregations and psalms used by Reformed Protestants[23]
Lightning from widespread and powerful thunderstorm strikes Granville barn, blowing boards 100 feet upwind and forcing many 1 foot into the ground[24]
New Brunswick
[edit]Letter-to-the-editor warns of sickness and death caused by quackery of practitioners without least knowledge of medicine[25]
Advertisement promotes Saint John dancing school, instruction in fencing and broadsword and lessons on fortepiano, harpsichord and spinet[26]
Hudson's Bay Company
[edit]Hudson's Bay Company traders reach Assiniboine River via York Factory and Swan River 1 month before North West Company traders can arrive[27]
Fur trader Donald Mackay reports seeing 93 North West Company canoes headed for Grand Portage with more than 125,000 "made beaver"[28]
Joseph Colen describes low stock of food at Fort Severn from "scarcity of game," which necessitates rationing and threatens "Natives" with starvation[29]
Elsewhere
[edit]As epidemic causes many Labrador Inuit deaths, Moravian missionaries find both their converts and "wild heathen" turning to "sorcerers" for relief[30]
After 2 weeks on Lake Winnipeg (paddling 40+ miles some days), waves swamp Donald Mackay's canoe, but he saves his wife, baby and her sister[31]
"[N]otwithstanding the appearances of peace, almost all the Powers of Europe make preparations for war with the greatest celerity"[32]
Chatham Dockyard is to build 98-gun ship wholly of English oak and with "newest improvements of naval architecture"[33]
References
[edit]- ^ "Kings and Queens of Canada". aem. 11 August 2017. Retrieved 24 February 2021.
- ^ Galarneau, Claude (1979). "McLANE, DAVID". Dictionary of Canadian Biography. University of Toronto. Retrieved May 12, 2023.
- ^ "Boston, August 5," The St. John Gazette and Weekly Advertiser, Volume XII, Number 587 (August 18, 1797), pg. 2 of 2 (lefthand page, 3rd column). (See also poem describing this border and rest of boundaries with U.S.A.) Accessed 26 January 2024
- ^ Letter of Edward Winslow (August 17, 1797), Winslow Papers; A.D. 1776-1826, pgs. 424-5 (PDF pg. 434). (See also letter (pg. 427; PDF 437) from fellow Loyalist who misses his "good old friends") Accessed 7 February 2024
- ^ An Act for the better preservation of His Majesty's Government as by Law happily established in this Province (May 2, 1797), 37 George III Chapter 6, British North American Legislative Database, 1758-1867. Accessed 26 January 2024
- ^ "Quebec, Tuesday, July 11," The Quebec Gazette, Num. 1677 Cahier 1 (July 13, 1797), pgs. 1–2. (See details of proceedings in next issues of The Quebec Gazette (in English and then French) and in The Trial of David McLane for High Treason; see also [https://numerique.banq.qc.ca/patrimoine/details/52327/4268019 report (pg. 3) from New York newspaper of conspiracy against Canada, and also opinion (pg. 427; PDF 437) that French Canadians are quieter and more submissive since McLane execution) Accessed 2 February 2024
- ^ "By His Excellency Robert Prescott[....]" (August 22, 1797), The Quebec Gazette, Num. 1684 Cahier 1 (August 31, 1797), pg. 1. Accessed 2 February 2024
- ^ "Quebec, August 24," The Quebec Gazette, Num. 1683 Cahier 1 (August 24, 1797), pg. 3. Accessed 2 February 2024
- ^ "Circulating Library" (September 13, 1797), The Quebec Gazette, Num. 1686 Cahier 1 (September 14, 1797), pg. 3. Accessed 2 February 2024
- ^ "Advertisement," The Quebec Gazette, Num. 1686 Cahier 1 (September 14, 1797), pg. 3. Accessed 2 February 2024
- ^ An Act for the better securing of the Province against the King’s Enemies (1797), 37 George III Chapter 1, British North American Legislative Database, 1758-1867. Accessed 26 January 2024
- ^ Treaty No. 8 (1797), Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada. Accessed 5 February 2024
- ^ "Treaty with the Mohawk Nation of Indians" (March 29, 1797), Papers of the War Department; 1784-1800. Accessed 26 January 2024
- ^ "Moody, Mary" (April 4, 1797), Land Petitions of the Niagara Settlers "Molyneux to Morris" Accessed 6 February 2024
- ^ "Turney, George; Undated[...]Petition of George, Jeanny and Nancy Turney[....]" (received February 4, 1797), Land Petitions of the Niagara Settlers "Turney to Tyler" (See also successful petition of their mother, Mary Turney (on this page)) Accessed 6 February 2024
- ^ Peter Russell diary entry (July 1, 1797), Toronto Public Library. Accessed 27 December 2023
- ^ An Act for better regulating the Practice of the Law (1797), 37 George III Chapter 13, British North American Legislative Database, 1758-1867. Accessed 26 January 2024
- ^ Excerpts of letters of Joseph Brant to John Johnson and James Green (December 10, 1797), Indian Affairs; Lieutenant-Governor's Office - Upper Canada; Correspondence, 1796-1806, pgs. 190-6 (frames 226-32). Accessed 8 February 2024
- ^ "For the Centinel; To Farmers," The Royal Gazette: and the Nova-Scotia Advertiser, Vol. VIII, No. 463 (June 13, 1797), pg. 3 (left column). Accessed 31 January 2024
- ^ John Wentworth, "Wentworth report on the Maroons" (April 21, 1797), pgs. 5-7, Nova Scotia Archives. Accessed 5 February 2024
- ^ John Wentworth, "Wentworth report on the Maroons" (April 21, 1797), pgs. 2-5, Nova Scotia Archives. Accessed 5 February 2024
- ^ "Roie (Roy, Roi), Freeman and Others – 1797 – Guysborough County" (May 27, 1797), Nova Scotia Archives. Accessed 31 January 2024
- ^ "To be had of the Printer[....]," The Royal Gazette: and the Nova-Scotia Advertiser, Vol. VIII, No. 446 (February 14, 1797), pg. 3 (right column). Accessed 29 January 2024
- ^ "Extract of a letter from a Gentleman at Annapolis[....]" (June 16, 1797), The Royal Gazette: and the Nova-Scotia Advertiser, Vol. VIII, No. 465 (June 27, 1797), pg. 3 (centre column). Accessed 31 January 2024
- ^ "To the Printer of the Saint John Gazette," The St. John Gazette and Weekly Advertiser Volume XII, Number 595 (October 13, 1797), pg. 4 of 11 (righthand page). Accessed 29 January 2024
- ^ "Dancing School" (August 18, 1797), The St. John Gazette and Weekly Advertiser, Volume XII, Number 587 (August 18, 1797), pg. 2 of 2 (lefthand page, 3rd column). Accessed 26 January 2024
- ^ John MacDonell, Some Account of the Red River, ca. 1797 (Contemporary Copy transcript), Page #18 of 34 McGill Library. Accessed 6 February 2024
- ^ Joseph Colen, "Nov'r 1 [1797]", "York Factory - Post Journal; 1797-1799 PDF frames 11–13, Archives of Manitoba. (See also Mackay biography) Accessed 7 February 2024
- ^ Letter of Joseph Colen (April 3, 1797), "Severn - Post Journal (1796-7; 1809-10), PDF frames 29–31, Archives of Manitoba. Accessed 7 February 2024
- ^ "Letters(...)from the Settlements on the Coast of Labrador" (Okkak, August 7, 1797), 1797-1800, vol. 02: Periodical accounts relating to the missions of the Church of the United Brethren established among the heathen, pgs. 123-4 (frames 129-30), Memorial University of Newfoundland. (See also similar news from Nain (frames 135-6)) Accessed 5 February 2024
- ^ Donald Mackay, "25 [July 1797]," "Journal of Occurrences on a Journey from Albany Factory to York Factory(....)" PDF frames 14–15, Archives of Manitoba. Accessed 2 February 2024
- ^ "Quebec, Wednesday, August 30; From Paris[....]," The Quebec Gazette, Num. 1684 Cahier 1 (August 31, 1797), pg. 3. Accessed 2 February 2024
- ^ "London, July 2; The keel[....]," The Quebec Gazette, Num. 1686 Cahier 1 (September 14, 1797), pg. 2. Accessed 2 February 2024
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