Marie-Thérèse Desmarais

Life and times

General historical context. This section describes the times and places this person lived in. It is not documented fact about them; “likely” means just that.

Places

1. L'Assomption, Province of Quebec (Lower Canada) 1761-ca. 1790
2. Saint-Jacques-de-Montcalm, Lower Canada ca. 1790-1817

What was happening

• 1763 Treaty of Paris and Transition to British Rule · L'Assomption and Province of Quebec, Canada
  As an infant in L'Assomption, Marie-Thérèse would have likely grown up in a French-Canadian community navigating the profound legal and administrative transitions following the formal cession of New France to Great Britain. Source
• 1774 Passage of the Quebec Act · Province of Quebec, Canada
  During her youth, Marie-Thérèse would have likely benefited from the British Crown's restoration of French civil law and the protection of the Catholic faith, which safeguarded her parish community's religious traditions. Source
• 1775 American Invasion of the Province of Quebec · Montreal and St. Lawrence Valley, Quebec
  Living northeast of Montreal along the St. Lawrence river corridor, Marie-Thérèse's family would have likely experienced significant wartime anxiety and military requisitions as American Continental forces occupied Montreal. Source
• 1791 Passage of the Constitutional Act creating Lower Canada · Lower Canada (Quebec)
  As a newly married mother establishing her household in the Lanaudière region, Marie-Thérèse would have likely observed local electoral campaigns and political debates surrounding the creation of Lower Canada's first representative assembly. Source
• 1812 Outbreak of the War of 1812 and Lower Canada Militia Mobilization · Lower Canada (Quebec)
  As a widow with adult sons in Saint-Jacques, Marie-Thérèse would have likely worried over local militia calls and wartime supply levies as British and Canadian forces defended Lower Canada from American incursions. Source
• 1816 The Year Without a Summer · Lower Canada (Quebec)
  In the final full year of her life, Marie-Thérèse would have likely endured widespread crop failures, killing summer frosts, and soaring flour prices that caused immense distress across rural Lower Canada. Source

In context

Marie-Thérèse Desmarais lived her life in the fertile St. Lawrence River valley of Quebec during the transformative era following the British Conquest of New France. Born in L'Assomption in October 1761, she was raised in a traditional Catholic French-Canadian community during the initial years of British civil governance. Her youth was marked by significant imperial changes, including the Quebec Act of 1774, which recognized French civil law and the Catholic faith, followed immediately by the upheaval of the American invasion of 1775. In July 1783, she married Jacques Ménard in L'Assomption, and together they established their farmstead in the growing settlement of Saint-Jacques-de-Montcalm. Marie-Thérèse gave birth to a large family, including her son Julien Maximilien Ménard in 1793. Widowed prematurely in September 1796 when Jacques passed away at age forty-five, Marie-Thérèse shouldered the formidable task of raising her minor children and managing the family estate. She guided her family through the militia mobilizations of the War of 1812 and the severe agricultural distress of the 1816 'Year Without a Summer' before passing away in Saint-Jacques in June 1817 at age fifty-five.