Maison Papineau: Louis-Joseph Papineau

One of the great French Canadian nationalists was Louis-Joseph Papineau who was born in Montréal on the 7th of October, 1786 and died on the 25th of September, 1871 at the age of 85.

It is interesting to read a letter written by his son, Louis J.A. Papineau, dated the 10th of May, 1894 to an American by the name of W.P. Popenoe inquiring about the latter’s family heritage.

The letter traces the history of the Papineau family in Canada and also mentions that the family’s many members had to flee France under Louis XIVth’s rule as they were originally Huguenots or French Calvinists.

One member of the family fled to Canada in the year 1686 or 1687 and it seems that all of the Papineaus, of which Louis-Joseph was one of the offspring, are descendants from
this original Papineau.

Louis-Joseph Papineau was a very important politician and member of the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada, as Quebec was known prior to Confederation. The country in 1837 was made up of Upper Canada and Lower Canada (much of what is now known as Ontario and Quebec).

From the moment of his entry into the Assembly, Papineau never ceased to play a central role in the politics of Lower Canada both in and outside of the Legislative Assembly. He was speaker of the Legislative Assembly from 1815 to 1823 and 1825 to 1832. As a powerful speaker he became leader of the Canadian Party, which later became known as the Parti Patriote (Patriot Party).

To understand more of the history of Lower Canada it is necessary to go back to the early years of the Legislative Assembly prior to Confederation wherein there existed two parties, the Canadian Party or Parti Patriote and the Tory Party. The former was for the most part made up of French-speaking members and the latter comprised English-speaking members.

The basic difference between the two parties is that the Tory party believed in a society patterned after the British model. Consequently their belief was that the aristocracy should control the political power and emphasis should be placed on intensive trade, unconditional attachment to the British Empire and a culture based on Protestant reform.

On the other hand, the Canadian party wanted a local sovereignty and with the power to be in the hands of the middle class acting on behalf of the working class. This was to be supported by domestic trade, agriculture, the Custom of Paris, Catholicism and local markets.

Although Lower Canada was supposed to have a constitutional government, in fact this was pure mockery! Members of the Legislative Assembly were elected by the people, however, they had no control over the Legislative Council. What in fact transpired was rule by way of an oligarchy and contrary to the will of the people.

This Legislative Council was made up of representatives whose members were appointed by the crown upon recommendations presented by the governor-in-chief. They had the power, which they often exercised, to reject bills presented by the Legislative Assembly or water them down to such an extent that they had very little resemblance to the original bill.

Members of the Council were even successful in convincing the British Government that this was the appropriate way to govern Lower Canada. As a result of this disenchantment the famous 92 resolutions were passed by the Legislative Assmembly in 1834.

Papineau was instrumental in drafting most of the 92 resolutions which were presented to the British Parliament seeking ethnic autonomy and the right to spend their tax revenues as they saw fit in the colony. It also embodied all kinds of grievances, real and imaginary, under which Lower Canada had to endure.

Unfortunately, the 92 resolutions were rejected by the British, which in turn led to the rebellion of 1837 and which was crushed by the British military.

The British even went so far as issuing a warrant for the arrest of Louis Joseph Papineau and offering the sum of 4000 Piastres as compensation to anyone who would capture Papineau and bring him to justice.

Papineau had to flee for his life to Albany, New York where he stayed for 2 years.

Subsequently he moved to France in 1839, where he remained until 1845 when amnesty was granted to him thanks to the influence of Louis-Hippolyte La Fontaine.

One of the residences of the Papineau family is located at 440 rue Bonsecours. This property, known as Maison Papineau, originally was built by a British colonel by the name of John Campbell.

Apparently Col. Campbell purchased the land and a wooden house situated on this land in 1779, where the property is now located, from Joseph Papineau, grandfather of Louis-Joseph Papineau.

In 1785 Campbell decided to build a new two storey stone home. In 1809, after the death of Col. Campbell, his widow sold the house to Joseph Papineu, son of the original owner and father of Louis-Joseph Papineau.

The latter acquired the property from his father in 1814 and it remained in the family until May 1, 1920 when the succession of Louis-Joseph Papineau sold the property to a merchant by the name of Joseph Arthur Paulhus.

In 1964 the property was purchased by Eric Mclean from D. Hatton Company, who were fish wholesalers. Mr. Mclean was a well known Montreal journalist and was considered to be a pioneer in the restoration of historic properties in Vieux Montréal.

The present owner of the property is the Canadian Government who purchased the property in 1982 from Mr. Mclean.

Today the property resembles its appearance when it existed in the 1830s. It is to be noted that when restoration began on this property two brick storeys were eliminated and all of the windows were replaced. The workers also had to strip 19 layers of wallpaper!

The Province of Quebec since 1965 considers the Maison Papineau to be a classified cultural property and subject to the provisions of the “Loi sur les biens culturels”.

If you encounter anyone from the “famille” Papineau walking along rue Bonsecours, let me know as I would be interested in learning more of their personal history.

This article was originally published at Suite101.com.

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