{"id":1992,"date":"2022-02-21T08:16:57","date_gmt":"2022-02-21T12:16:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/projects.upei.ca\/geolab\/?p=1992"},"modified":"2022-03-10T12:52:59","modified_gmt":"2022-03-10T16:52:59","slug":"energy-on-the-marguerite-messier-farm-and-the-st-hyacinthe-csd-st-hyacinthe-quebec","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/projects.upei.ca\/geolab\/2022\/02\/21\/energy-on-the-marguerite-messier-farm-and-the-st-hyacinthe-csd-st-hyacinthe-quebec\/","title":{"rendered":"Energy on the Marguerite Messier Farm and the St. Hyacinthe CSD, St. Hyacinthe, Quebec"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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Figure 1a. Simone Durant holding cured leaves of cigar, left, and cigarette tobacco leaves, in Joliette, Quebec, 1949. Like St. Hyacinthe in the nineteenth century, Joliette became part of Quebec\u2019s tobacco producing region in the early twentieth century. Although this photograph was taken long after Marguerite Messier grew tobacco on her farm in St. Hyacinthe, it shows a woman participating in this branch of agriculture, not unlike Messier almost a century earlier. Library and Archives Canada\/National Film Board or Canada fonds\/e011175785, https:\/\/recherche-collection-search.bac-lac.gc.ca\/eng\/home\/record?app=fonandcol&IdNumber=4948554&new=-8585570900960126<\/a>382<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Messier farm in Quebec\u2019s St. Hyacinthe CSD is an example of a Farm with Average Land Funds (land and pasture), Low Livestock Funds\/Flows, and Specialized Cash Crops (tobacco) and Animal Products (wool and honey). In terms of its land size and crop energy flows, the Messier farm was almost the perfectly average farm in the CSD. It is in many ways a typical operation for this region.[1]<\/sup><\/a> It stands out in one important respect, however, because it was owned by a woman. In 1871, 59-year-old Marguerite Mefsier (Messier), a widow, was head of the 36.4 hectare (ha) farm.[2]<\/sup><\/a> Marguerite\u2019s husband Michel died in 1865 at 58 years of age.[3]<\/sup><\/a> She continued to farm the completely cleared parcel, and like many farms in the region she produced cash crops such as tobacco and surplus cereals. In other ways, the Messier farm was smaller than average, such as its lower number of livestock and the flows they generated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her two sons Am\u00e9de and Antoine, ages 23 and 19, were farmers who must have done much of the farm work. A second family of the same surname, Messier, lived with them in the same house. This was 38-year-old Michel, who was a commis (or clerk), his wife Marie who was 35, and their five children, Joseph, Albina, Georges, Jean, and Ema, ages 13, 11, eight, four, and two. In the 1871 Census of Canada Michel did not report any land, livestock, crops, or products. Although we do not know the exact relationship between Marguerite\u2019s immediate family and Michel and his family, they were probably relatives\u2013possibly her eldest son, daughter-in-law, and grandchildren\u2013who lived at the farm as family members or as boarders and who pitched in to get work on the farm done. The farm was successful because of Marguerite\u2019s good fortune to have extensive pastures and other cleared land as well as family labour to work it. Her two adult sons, plus Michel, Marie, and probably Ema, their eldest child, all could have contributed labour. This was not the case for all women, of course. Another widow whose farm we examined in St. Hyacinthe, Esther Beauregard, was not nearly as well supported as was Marguerite. Esther, who had three young children, the eldest deaf, lost her farm and ended up in Hotel Dieu of St. Hyacinthe where nuns cared for the poor. Esther died impoverished at 60 years of age.[4]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marguerite had an additional 12 ha in the Dominion of Canada that was outside the census subdivision in which she lived.[5]<\/sup><\/a> This additional 12 ha was likely close by to her 36.4 ha and used as a woodlot or, if it was improved, she may have had more pastureland, hay land, and cropland available than reported in Schedule 1 of the 1871 Census of Canada. When combined, Marguerite\u2019s two parcels of land totaled 48.4 ha.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Figure 1b.  Carte du comt\u00e9 de St. Hyacinthe construite d\u2019apr\u00e8s les plans du Cadastre. 1:63:360. Biblioth\u00e8que de Archives nationals du Qu\u00e9bec, 1930. Approximate 1871 CSD boundary shown in green. https:\/\/numerique.banq.qc.ca\/patrimoine\/details\/52327\/2244832<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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