The Commandeur De Sillery Inaugurated His Benevolent Purpose By Placing
12,000 Livres In The Hands Of Father Charles Lalemant,
A zealous Jesuit;
this was the beginning of the mission which, through gratitude to its
founder, was called Sillery - it
Was distant about four miles and a half
from Quebec, on the north shore of the St. Lawrence; date of the
foundation, July, 1637. [171] History has preserved a letter addressed
from Paris by the Commandeur de Sillery to the Chevalier de Montmagny,
governor of the colony, in which the benevolent man asked the Governor to
ratify a grant of "twelve arpents" made to him in the city itself by the
company of the Hundred Partners, and also to ratify a promised grant of
other lands to open a seminary or school to educate Algonquin and
Montagnais children, although, at the request of the Indians, the
settlement became, in 1638, more extensive, and comprised also the
residence of the christianized Indians. Negabamat and Nenasesenat were the
first to establish their families there. On the last day of June, 1665, we
will find the eloquent Negabamat, then a resident of Quebec, sent by his
tribe to harangue and compliment the great Marquis of Tracy on his arrival
at Quebec. (Relations, 1665, p. 4.) Father LeJeune, a learned Jesuit,
had charge and control over the workmen who were sent out from France at
the expense of the Commandeur de Sillery; and on the 22nd February, 1639,
a permanent bequest was authentically recorded in favor of the mission by
the Commandeur placing at interest, secured on the Hotel-de-Ville at
Paris, a sum of 20,000 livres tournois.
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