QUEBEC-L Archives

Archiver > QUEBEC > 2001-05 > 0990686585


From: "Michel Robert" <>
Subject: [QUEBEC] Re: Salary of Emigrants under Contract
Date: Wed, 23 May 2001 23:43:05 -0700
References: <20010523.092253.-334889.1.captjoef@juno.com>


Hi all,

When the contract was with a seigneur or a fief holder (sub-seigneur one might say), it was usually part of the deal as it was to
everybody's advantage and met the policy requirement. Otherwise it was usually not written, but the Cent Associes company as well as
the contracting companies acting on their behalf and later the royal government did put pressure on seigneurs to make these lands
available to persons who had passed the test of three years in Canada, to the point of confiscating seigneuries or parts thereof a
the sign of any slow cooperation. This happened to even one of the seigneur who was also the governor for a while: Montmagny.

Aside from the two true passengers lists mentioned on my page, none have been found, but some were partly reconstituted, with
errors, based on dates of engagement contracts registered in France, or based on mentions of an individual as a would-be passengers
in a transport contract between a trading house and a would-be employer. Sometimes this type of information can be correlated with
the corroborating appearance of the individual in canadian documents, following the date of embarkment, both more often this is not
the case. Some historians claims that the ratio is about 5 contracts in France to 1 individual who actually came to Canada and
stayed.

As far as looking for information on ship, you have to dig dig dig. For France it is easier than Britain as the
admiralties(commercial and military) kept good records starting early although most have been destroyed through wars etc. Technical
information on ships are also available, mostly in private hands, some in museums, as ship engineering (plans, calculations
etc)existed in France as early as 1660 while it appeared in England about 125 years later. This is why the best ships of the British
Navy were nearly always French ships that had been captured. British sailors were less numerous but a lot more professional and
disciplined (a sailor would spend his whole short life as a sailor) while in France it was the usual 3 years contract and then never
again thank you, except for corsairs.

Meilleures Salutations
Michel Robert
http://home.primus.ca/~lmrobert/index.html


----- Original Message -----
From: <>
To: <>
Sent: Wednesday, May 23, 2001 9:22 AM
Subject: Re: [QUEBEC] Salary of Emigrants under Contract ?


>
> Thank you Michel,
>
> Your reply summarizes it well. The "usual" bonus of free land of "60
> acres" seems to equal to what I've seen as "2 arpents river frontage by
> 40 arpents depth" of the typical farm.
>
> Questions on this: Was the free land bonus written into the contract and
> if not, what determined who received the free land? Would the free land
> be in the same seigneurie where the contract worker boarded and labored?
>
> Second area of question: I checked your web page and noticed some
> passenger lists. My 4 main ancestors emigrated 1657-1672 from
> LaRochelle, I believe. What is the availability of passenger lists and
> how would I access them to find information about their ships... name of
> the vessel, size etc.
>
> All the best!
> Joe.. in Calif.
>
> On Tue, 22 May 2001 14:05:21 -0700 "Michel Robert" <>
> writes:
> > Hi,
> >
> > The salary basis (30 to 200) varied depending on period
> > (1608-1750). The norm was: contract for 3 years, at a base salary of
> > X
> > livres per year, in your case 80, full room and board usually in the
> > employer's house, a free pair of shoes per year, transportation
> > paid from and to France. The bonus was usually free land after 3
> > years from one of the seigneurs, average size 60 acres. If someone
> > had a trade, the contract varied and a lot more lucrative.
> >
> > For a review of purchasing power of a livre (pound) see my webpage.
> >
> > Meilleures Salutations
> > Michel Robert
> > http://home.primus.ca/~lmrobert/index.html
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: <>
> > To: <>
> > Sent: Tuesday, May 22, 2001 12:57 PM
> > 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.
> > >
> > >
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> >
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>
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