The Saint Lawrence valley after the British conquest of Canada sheltered a people uncertain of its destiny. For most of the century the habitants, taught to obey the priest, the seigneur and the captain of the militia, had to adjust to an alien culture. Aaron Hart was about as alien as anybody they encountered after their royal masters returned forever to France. A Jew, an entrepreneurial merchant, an English emigre ignorant of a Catholic sense of the proper order, the newcomer to Trois-Rivieres seemed an unlikely fixture in a town of coureurs de bois, tradesmen and clerics. While the church...
The Saint Lawrence valley after the British conquest of Canada sheltered a people uncertain of its destiny. For most of the century the habitants, tau...
Being in the shadow of an older sibling never sat well with Ezekiel Hart, whose temperament and sense of propriety differed so markedly from that of Moses. He cultivated good relations with his fellow townspeople, shrewdly enlarged the birthright that was his and regarded himself as a model citizen worthy of being honored by his fellows. Little did he realize that he would be tossed into a political maelstrom that would so undermine his mental equilibrium.
There were indeed threats to be countered, both at home in Trois-Rivieres and in the provincial capital. One came from John Coffin,...
Being in the shadow of an older sibling never sat well with Ezekiel Hart, whose temperament and sense of propriety differed so markedly from that of M...
Unlike his brothers Moses and Ezekiel, Benjamin Hart, the third son of Aaron, chooses the path of orthodoxy-not only in his lifestyle but also in his class allegiance. The commercial prowess of Moses and Ezekiel notwithstanding, the Hart brother most directly responsible for affecting the course of Lower Canada's history is certainly Benjamin. At first Benjamin seems an unlikely agent of change; but in forsaking Trois-Rivieres for Montreal, he is able to ingratiate himself with an administration that is determined to recast Lower Canada into a British colonial state, as free as possible of...
Unlike his brothers Moses and Ezekiel, Benjamin Hart, the third son of Aaron, chooses the path of orthodoxy-not only in his lifestyle but also in his ...
In this fifth and final installment of the Hart family dynasty chronicles, Charles Law turns to mid-nineteenth century Quebec, Canada, to capture the rise and fall of the next generation of the Hart family. What is this third generation of Harts to make of their forbears' pursuit of wealth? The "cousins," the multiple grandchildren of Dolly and Aaron Hart, were taught to revere their grandfather, though none ever knew him while he was alive. But they have little reason to emulate so illustrious a personage who, after all, was no more than a shopkeeper, sutler, fur trader, and minor landowner...
In this fifth and final installment of the Hart family dynasty chronicles, Charles Law turns to mid-nineteenth century Quebec, Canada, to capture the ...