Isabelle Paradis and Nico Lefrançois, two history buffs, give the past of the mythical island, each in their own way, a new dimension for the future.
Quebecers’ interest in Île d’Orléans is not about to wane. Isabelle Paradis and Nico Lefrançois, two history buffs, give the past of this legendary island, each in their own way, a new dimension.
“I thought it would be nice to know where exactly the ancestors of a large number of Quebecers lived,” explains Nico Lefrançois, a passionate genealogist and history buff. Thanks to Google Earth and its patient work, the curious can see exactly, approximately, where the land and the home of many of these European settlers were.
Nico Lefrançois projected historical data into geolocated digital representations. They make it possible to locate the first European dwellings on this mythical island and the lands of their occupants.
This work of a monk, Nico Lefrançois devotes himself to it on a personal basis. ” This is my passion. I have been interested in genealogy since I was 11 years old. I have 53. One thing leading to another, I became interested in the territories of origins, in the maps which described them, in the work of genealogists which allow us to have a broader portrait. It is all this that he tries to put to good use.
His work on the island is based on the precision of the maps of Robert de Villeneuve, engineer to King Louis XIV. Known as a cartographer and draftsman, Villeneuve was probably a pupil of the famous Vauban, to whom we owe several strongholds. “Based on one of his maps and the few period buildings still standing, I did the calculations to position the buildings Villeneuve gives the location of. With Google Earth and geolocation, I get a very precise portrait. »
“It is from the map of Villeneuve and the buildings that still exist that I work. If Villeneuve took his measurements before publishing his map, I’m right! And you have to trust him, I think. On his map, the king’s engineer took the trouble to specify that everything was “measured very exactly in 1689”. The homes and buildings of 347 families are shown.
The measuring instruments available to the king’s engineer are of limited precision. The relief of the island has also varied somewhat. “Part of the work is based on deductions. The island is no longer exactly the same. The terrain has changed. The shores too, with erosion, constructions, levelling…. Mr. Villeneuve took his coordinates as best he could. I looked for the buildings still standing, to support my work and to serve as beacons. »
If children are not made aware of the particularities of these houses early on, they will not be able later to recognize their importance or their value.
Nico Lefrançois believes, by virtue of the checks he has been able to do so far, to be in a register of plausibility. “I would say that we are, with the projections that I make, in the truth of the original locations. Plus or minus fifty feet, I’m in, I’d say. »
Original mansions
Nico Lefrançois can count on at most a handful of original 17th century buildingsand century to support its geolocations. By the way, how many houses are there left from this time of beginnings? “Really not much! Very little even. That makes them all the more valuable. In Sainte-Famille, for example, I only have three that I can trust. »
In 1759, “the English destroyed a lot during the War of the Conquest”, explains the genealogist. The columns of smoke are spotted at a good distance. The Mauvide-Genest mansion, a major witness to the history of the island, still bears several traces of the attack it suffered. The invading troops, led by General Wolfe, will avoid touching the churches, so as not to fuel a war driven by religious fanaticism. Some buildings were damaged by the soldiers, but did not disappear. On the island, the destruction of homes is not total, as is more or less the case on the Côte-du-Sud, in Charlevoix or on the Côte-de-Beaupré. There is no question of leaving everything in ashes because Île d’Orléans was used by the British army as a camp and as a field hospital during the Battle of the Plains of Abraham. Old buildings or old barns from the French regime survive, for this reason in part, the military campaign. This has the effect of subsequently heightening the interest in Île d’Orléans. Of all the corners of Quebec, wrote Pierre-Georges Roy in 1928, “there is none more picturesque than Île d’Orléans”.
In 1689, the island had not yet reached the level of cultivation of the fields and the general ease that the British soldiers would notice when they landed there in 1759. But it was already, at the time, presented as the basin of the finest seigneuries in the country. Hurons, refugees on the island, worked there for a while on the land before being massacred.
“On the map of Villeneuve, it is quite precise”, the spaces in culture. “There must have been a lot of trees still. Very much. Each acre they deciphered to make cultivable land required a lot of time,” explains Nico Lefrançois.
Screenings
Geolocated projections of the island’s dwellings at the end of the 17th centuryand century are based on the Villeneuve map of 1689, but also on the pioneering work of the genealogist Léon Roy. “I do all the primary lands, the first concessions, with a follow-up until 1725, from what he left us as information. »
“At the start, my file was huge, very heavy. I had thought about giving up, it was so complicated. And then, everything unlocked. Almost half of this unique historical cartography has been completed. People can already view much of the work by being plugged into Google Earth. “Everything should be finished by the beginning of the summer. I want to finish this job as soon as possible. » Nico Lefrançois has the ambition to trace the history of all the lands of Quebec from the land heritage register. The works of Nico Lefrançois are presented on the website patrimoinequebec.com.
The importance of these houses
For her part, Isabelle Paradis, a resident of Île d’Orléans, took it into her head to introduce children and students to the characteristic features of architecture in New France. “The houses of Île d’Orléans told me”, the workshop she offers, allows you to discover a facet of the island.
A specialist in heritage conservation and restoration, Isabelle Paradis works at the Quebec City Conservation Centre. She specializes in the restoration of architectural finishes and stone. But it is on its own that it now travels from school to school, with a scale model of a real period house on Île d’Orléans, the Bégin house, which dates from 1720. This house was originally in Beaumont. In 1975, it was moved to Saint-Pierre.
“I think you have to explain to children very early on why heritage matters. For several years now, she has been offering workshops on houses of yesteryear in order to make children aware of their importance. “Children can see exactly, from a model, how these houses were built, what is special about them. They can assemble and disassemble it, as I explain. »
Isabelle Paradis is categorical: “If children are not made aware early on of the particularities of these houses, they will not be able, later, to recognize their importance or their value. On the island, these old houses may still surround them, they will never exist in their hearts as a value if no one talks to them about them, if no one explains to them what they mean. »