There Is Still Extant A
Marriage Contract, Drafted By Him, For Two Parishioners; It Is One Of The
Earliest On Record In Canada, Bearing Date The 16th July, 1636.
It is
signed by the worthy Robert Giffard, the seignior, and by Francois
Bellanger and Noel Langlois; the other parties affixed their mark.
It
possesses interest as serving to illustrate the status and education of
the early French settlers. In 1628, Robert Giffard had been taken a
prisoner of war by the English, on board of Rocmont's fleet. On his
return, and in acknowledgement of the services rendered by him to the
colonial authorities, he obtained a grant of the seigniory of Beauport,
together with a large tract of land, on the River St. Charles. For many
long years the ancestral halls of the Duchesnays, at Beauport, rang with
the achievements of their warlike seigneurs. One of them, Nicholas
Juchereau de St. Denys, so distinguished himself at the siege of Quebec in
1690, that his sovereign granted him "a patent of nobility." ("Le sieur
de St. Denys, seigneur de Beauport, " says Charlevoix, "commandait ses
habitants, il avait plus de soixante ans et combattait avec beaucoup de
valeur, jusqu'a ce qu'il eut un bras casse d'un coup de feu. Le Roi
recompensa peu de temps apres son zele en lui accordant des lettres de
noblesse.") His son distinguished himself in Louisiana. Two other
members of the family won laurels at Chateaugay. A descendant, Lieut.-Col.
Theodore Duchesnay, is Deputy Adjutant General of Militia.
The late Col. Gugy, built himself, in 1865, close to the manor, a
comfortable dwelling, wherein, amidst rural retirement, he divided his
existence between literature, briefs and his stud, noted all over Canada.
He had recently added to his domain, by purchase, a large tract of land
from the adjoining property, the De Salaberry homestead, where H.R.H.
the Duke of Kent, the father of our beloved Queen, in 1791 enjoyed more
than one petit souper. The broad acres which in 1759 resounded to
the tread of Montcalm's heavy squadrons, for years the quiet home of a
barrister of note, now bear the name of Darnoc. Cedant arma togae.
Darnoc, since the death of Col. Gugy, in 1878, is occupied by Mrs. Gugy
and Herman Ryland, Esq., who married a daughter of the late proprietor.
The ruins of the Duchesnay Manor, more than once have been disturbed by
the pick and shovel of the midnight seeker for hidden French piastres:
though religiously protected against outrage by Mrs. Gugy's family, and
more especially watched over by the Genius Loci, the divining rod
and a Petit Albert have recently found their way there; however
successfully poised and backed by the most orthodox incantations and
fumigations, the magic rod has failed so far to bring to the surface
either gold or silver coin. This was probably owing to the omission of a
very important ceremony: the production on the spot of "a candle [298]
made out of the fat of an executed murderer, as the clock strikes twelve
at midnight," under suitable planetary influence.
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