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From: Suzanne B Sommerville <>
Subject: Re: [QUEBEC] Salary of Emigrants under Contract ?
Date: Wed, 23 May 2001 16:10:59 -0400


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>Subject: [QUEBEC] Salary of Emigrants under Contract ?
Hi Quebec List,

I read that an ancestor contracted in France to go to Quebec for 3 years
at a salary of 80 pounds.

Would that have been a monthly or an annual amount? Surely not for the
whole 3 years?

Also, would the emigrant likely get free transport to Quebec?

Then, when in Quebec, would he/she usually be provided with room and/or
board.

Thank you for your help with this.

Joe.. in Calif.<<<<

Hi Joe

Yes, that would be per year. The contracts I have read or seen reference
to paid for transportation and food to go to New France and the provision
for return passage at the end of the three years. Workers were maintained
by those who hired them, often including clothing and shoes on some
contracts I have seen.

80 livres does not seem like much, but W. J. Eccles says that one livre
was worth about $10 in 1982 Canadian dollars. If an engagé decided to
stay, he could be granted land free by a seigneur, having to pay only
minimum yearly fees thereafter, much of it in kind. There was no actual
coin called a "livre", and even coins were relatively scarce. Beaver skins
were also used as a trading medium, with their value determined by the
market.

The failure of ships to arrive from France with the yearly coins for
payment to soldiers and administrators led the governor to use playing card
money, which he and the intendant signed. The Canadian magazine _The
Beaver_ has a good article on this paper playing card money in the August/
September 2000 issue.

Suzanne
Suzanne Boivin Sommerville
Michigan, USA

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