The current Old Montreal reflects the evolution in the heart of the city throughout the centuries. The initial installation of Ville-Marie gave way in the 1700’s to a fortified town surrounded by suburban settlements. After 1800, once the fortifications were torn down, these settlements grew to form large districts where the middle classes and the authorities, concentrated downtown, i.e. in the current Old Montreal, carried out projects that further modified the old Ville-Marie. Between 1850 and 1880, Montreal became an industrial town and its centre, as a result of much demolition and reconstruction, was transformed into a typical Victorian town centre. After 1880, Montreal, which had already become the largest city in Canada, was asserting its status as a true metropolis by bringing still more changes to its old section where the country’s financial centre was situated. Place d’Armes remained the heart of Montreal.

From that period when Gilles and Marie settled here, only one building still stands today that our ancestors might recognize. We will come back to this later. But, we are also left with the layout of many streets, traces and relics in the ground, as well as ample documentation from the archives: parochial, seigniorial, notarial and judicial. The buildings from the 1700’s, 1800’s or the 1900’s which stand today in Old Montreal would seem alien to our ancestors but it is possible for us to stroll in their footsteps, where they walked more than 300 years ago. We will try to meet them by recalling some of the moments that marked their lives, all of which are well documented in the archives.

Marie Archambault, a seven-year-old girl, came to Montreal with her family around 1651. The ship brought them from the Quebec settlement along the coast of the river on its 200-kilometre trip. Of course, today’s large wharves, as we know them in the Vieux-Port, did not exist and the water’s edge was probably closer to the current street of la Commune. From her ship, Marie saw a few small wooden structures and a more imposing one, though still modest, the first hospital, Jeanne Mance’s Hôtel-Dieu. The ship probably came to shore near the mouth of a small stream, across from a point of land formed by the small stream and the St-Lawrence. The current museum of Pointe-à-Callière clearly marks this spot. The small stream was channeled underground a long time ago.

On this point of land, just west of the current museum, Marie saw the fort of Ville-Marie that had been built nine years earlier. The fort no longer exists, but when you visit the museum, you will be able to see the remains of the first cemetery of the island.

Soon after his arrival, Marie’s father was granted a plot within the village as well as a land claim further away, close to the property which we know today as Place d’Armes. The Hôtel-Dieu hospital, nearby, could have been used as a shelter in case of an attack by the Indians. Much later, the hospital was replaced with large stores on the corner of today’s Saint-Paul and Saint-Sulpice Streets, which has come to be known as the Cours Le Royer, site of the Café électronique.

Things were going poorly in 1652 as the Archambault family attempted to settle down. There was talk of abandoning the colony and its fort, the hospital and the few houses that had been built. We can be quite sure that when the recruits of 1653 arrived (La Grande Recrue), the whole colony (perhaps a few dozen Montrealers) was on the bank of the river to greet them. Not more than 100 persons came to Ville-Marie: the group included Marguerite Bourgeois, young women and many young men enlisted to develop the colony.

Marie, by then nine years old, was probably present; we can imagine her carefully observing the newcomers, probably not realizing that her husband-to-be was within the group disembarking in a brand new world. Marie was already familiar with the harsh life in Ville-Marie; she has had to learn to deal with the threat of attacks by the Iroquois. Contacts with the Amerindian allies are already part of her culture. Gilles, in his early twenties, grew up in the suburbs of Caen and his experience of life so far has been of an urban nature, a very different world. He was surely relieved to know that his long and perilous journey had come to an end; yet, he probably felt somewhat anxious at what he saw and experienced. He had enlisted for five years. He was expected to help in clearing the forest, to practice his trade of coppersmith and, if possible, get married, settle down and raise a family in the new colony.

A year and a half later, in late March, 1655, Gilles bought a plot of land from Urbain Tessier dit Lavigne which included a small 400 square-foot wooden house,. It was situated near the Archambault property, near what was to become the Place d’Armes, probably where Montreal’s first "skyscraper", the New York Life building, was constructed in 1888 (easily spotted from Place d’Armes with its red stone and giant clock on top).

A few months later, in August, 1655, Gilles took advantage of an offer from the Société de Notre-Dame, managers of the colony, and was granted his own town plot of one arpent in size (about an acre) plus thirty arpents of land to clear, just East of the village. The town plot was adjacent to the one he already owned and the Archambault family were now his next-door neighbours. The land to be cleared further East sat just beyond what was then considered the town limits. He was also offered 500 pounds "tournois" which he could keep only if he stayed beyond his five year contract, if not for life.

Marie and Gilles surely saw each other frequently. When Gilles acquired his properties, Marie was eleven years old. She would soon be of age to get married and have children.

In November, 1656,Gilles and Marie were wed. He was 26 years old. Marie was half his age, but she had already lived half her life in the new colony. They most likely first settled "in town" for the first winter, in the house that Gilles had bought the previous year near her parents. It is in this sector that the Association has placed a souvenir plaque on St-Jacques Street, between St-Laurent Boulevard and Place d’Armes.

In the summer of 1657, Marie, who was now 13 years old, was near the end of her first pregnancy. Michelle would be born in September. Do they spend the summer "in town" or on their land that needs to be cleared? Hard to say. But it would be safe to assume that he walked the route rather often, between the town and their land, further to the East. He would have followed the trail through Saint-Louis Hill (Côteau Saint-Louis) that would eventually become Notre-Dame Street where stand today City Hall and the Law Courts.

This young couple worked hard and probably often discussed possible strategies to cope with the many chores: the maintenance of their home, Gilles’ work as a coppersmith, clearing of the land, etc.

It is not easy to follow all their transactions. Sometime before August, 1657, the house that Gilles had bought in 1655 was sold. The deed has been lost but the deal is referred to in a more recent document. In February and March, 1658, they sold the cleared land, including the house, and took back by retrocession the house "in town" that had been previously sold. In June, they took back the cleared land sold in February (in fact, the sale was just cancelled as the buyer never took ownership). In October, 1658, they exchanged the cleared land and its house for a good deal of cut wood and another piece of land which was fully cleared and more valuable. Gilles made up the difference by paying with wheat and beaver furs.

During this exchange of properties in 1658, Gilles declared that he would live on his acre in town "where he built his house"! This was probably the house that he had bought in 1655, sold and then retaken by retrocession in March, 1658. According to his contract, Gilles was supposed to build a house on the piece of land Maisonneuve had granted him. Since he had bought an adjacent piece of land with a house already built on it, he may have considered that his obligation to build a house had been fulfilled, as if he had built it himself.

This was all rather complex and gives us some insight into the strategies devised by the young couple.

Let us imagine what life might have been like during their first years of marriage. The young couple might have stayed "in town" for the winter where Gilles would have practised his trade of coppersmith; their summers, or parts thereof, on their land where there was a lot of work to pursue. This arrangement would have allowed them to avoid the daily trips to and from the suburb. They also had to consider the threat of the rather frequent attacks by the Iroquois in the late 1650s. People were safer in the centre of Ville-Marie than in the suburbs.

Two and a half years later, at the end of the summer, 1661, Gilles and Marie, now 30 and 17, had with them two daughters, a four-year old and a two-year old. They entered into an agreement with Pierre Bissonnet that for a three year period, he would live on their land to cultivate it and continue its clearing. Gilles would contribute a number of days to help with the ploughing. In exchange, Pierre would provide Gilles with part of the harvest. "The lessor [Gilles] will have a house or cabin built to accommodate the lessee [Pierre] and his family for the duration of the lease, and if the lessee cannot stay there because of war troubles, he will move to the main house of the lessor". The contract was to last until the Fall, 1664. In December 1664, Gilles and Marie bought part of an adjoining property to increase their own. They had to renegotiate the financial arrangements in 1673 regarding the balance of payments on this purchase; twenty years later, in 1684, there were still problems with this debt!

As was already mentioned, their land was a bit outside of town. To find its situation today, you would have to go to the small street of Saint-Louis and imagine a narrow but long property that would start at St-Antoine Street and would go North, parallel to St-Denis Street.

In the 1666 census, we find our little family. Gilles is in his mid-thirties, Marie in her early twenties. Their daughters are nine, seven, four and three years old (the two youngest, Françoise and Marie, were born in 1662 and 1663); Marie is pregnant again and about to give birth to Catherine. The census also indicates that they have two servants, young men, 22 and 26 years old. They have eight heads of cattle, which is not negligible, and 40 usable acres ("arpents").

At the end of the 1660’s, the Lauzon family still attended mass in the chapel of the Hôtel-Dieu Hospital, which served as the parish church. Séraphin, the family’s first son, was probably baptised there in 1668. Michelle, the eldest, celebrated her marriage to Jean Coron in that chapel in 1670; she was 13 years old and her mother, Marie, was now 26.

The priests of Saint-Sulpice had been responsible for the parish for the past few years. In 1663, they had even become the lords ("seigneurs") in replacement of the founders’ Society of Notre-Dame. At the same time, Louis XIV took back direct control over the whole colony, which had been managed by the Company of New-France (Compagnie des Cent-Associés).

Between 1670 and 1672, Gilles was a churchwarden. It was therefore easy for him to be well informed of the Sulpicians’ activities either from the church’s or from the lord’s point of view. In 1672, Dollier de Casson, Superior of the Sulpicians, began straightening out and completing the street layout with the help of Bénigne Basset who was both notary and surveyor. They decided to transform the Côteau Saint-Louis "trail" into a wide main thoroughfare, Notre-Dame Street. They also decided to build a parish church in the middle of this new street. This church would much later be demolished and replaced with the actual one, but with a different orientation. Construction of the new church lasted until the late 1670’s.

In March, 1673, all owners of the lands that intersected the new road layout, signed an agreement, by which they agreed not to use that part of their land which intersected the proposed streets. The land that Gilles still owned "in town" (they had sold another part of it in 1662), was situated near the newly proposed site of the church and cut across Notre-Dame Street. Gilles didn’t sign with the others but asked time to think things through. In June, 1673, he signed a similar agreement, which dealt with his case alone. We can be pretty sure that there was much discussion with Dollier de Casson. Even though no document clearly mentions this, it would seem that Gilles gave the Sulpicians whatever land he still had "in town",

Gilles and Marie no longer had land "in town" near the new church. They might have wanted to keep it for their old age.

Louise was born in 1671, Marguerite was married in 1672, and Michel was born in 1673, the year of the agreement with the Sulpicians. In November of that same year, Gilles hired an apprentice coppersmith, a nephew, 18 years of age; Séraphin, his eldest son, was still only five years old. In 1674, Gilles bought a piece of land not far from the centre of Ville-Marie, situated near a small stream. He might have been interested in the lumber, or the stakes, or maybe he wanted to build a workshop. The purchase was paid for with beaver furs. (This property is never again mentioned in whatever notarial acts have been found).

Then, in 1675, Paul was born and Françoise was married. Then came the birth of Marie-Madeleine in 1677 followed by Anne’s in 1679 who unfortunately died shortly afterwards – those were difficult times. Marie was married in 1680 at the age of 17, and Catherine as well, in 1681, at the age of 15. In September, 1683, tragedy struck the family. Their eldest daughter, Michelle, died at the age of 26, 13 years after her marriage. Then came Gilles’ birth in February, 1684. Since 1683, the religious ceremonies, sad or joyful, were now held in the new church, which was finally inaugurated in 1683.

Many notarial acts from those years involved Gilles and Marie and document their numerous business transactions as well as legal acts: inheritance in Marie’s family, purchases, sales, etc.

In April, 1684, Gilles and Marie bought a small piece of land on the corner of Notre-Dame and Saint-François Streets, soon after having concluded an arrangement to reduce the outstanding debt from when they had added to their land outside town in 1664. The building of the new Saint-Sulpice Seminary was scheduled to start soon. The new property of the Lauzon family was situated directly across from this new large building where the lords of Montréal would establish their order. Today, when we walk to the intersection of Notre-Dame and Saint-François-Xavier Streets, we can imagine Gilles and Marie coming here to contemplate this site … which is dominated today by the skyscraper at 500 Place d’Armes, directly across from the old seminary.

Did Gilles and Marie plan to build a house in the near future or to keep the land for later? We will never know. Whatever project they had for this new property, the dream was abandoned. The purchase was cancelled in November, 1684, a few months after its acquisition. Money problems? Marie’s poor health? Who knows.

Marie died in August, the following year, barely in her forties. Their eldest daughters were married, but there were still seven children at home with Gilles: the eldest, Séraphin was 17 years old and the youngest, Gilles, still only one.

Gilles outlived Marie by 2 years and died in September, 1687. He witnessed the building of the Seminary, the only building that he saw in his lifetime that we can still see today, even though it was modified and enlarged many times since his death.

Strolling through Old Montreal, we can follow their footsteps around Place-d’Armes, and a bit further East, between Saint-Denis and Berri Streets, north of St-Louis Street where they owned farmland.

Many references were consulted in the preparation of this text, starting with the book written by Father L. Lauzon o.m.i., Gilles Lauzon et sa prospérité, published in 1926. The first volume of the Dictionnaire biographique du Canada also contains a brief biography of Gilles Lauzon. The database, Parchemin, which can be consulted in Quebec’s National Archives in Montreal, provided references and short resumes of notarial acts that can be consulted. The AFLA’s WEB page on Internet provides some of Parchemin’s references as well as biographical notes on Gilles, Marie and their children. More precise information on Gilles’ properties and transactions came from analysis of notarial acts by the "Groupe de recherche sur Montréal du Centre canadien d’architecture" (Research Group on Montreal, of the Canadian Architecture Centre). We especially thank the members of this group.

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Both illustrations were borrowed from Francis Bach’s Pour le Christ et le roi – La vie au temps des premiers Montréalais, Art Global/Libre Expression, 1992

Société de développement de Montréal

(Society for the development of Montreal)