A Canadian Manor and Its Seigneurs

Canadian Manor and Its
Seigneurs, A

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Title: A Canadian Manor and Its Seigneurs The Story of a Hundred
Years, 1761-1861
Author: George M. Wrong
Release Date: September 25, 2005 [EBook #16747]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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CANADIAN MANOR AND ITS SEIGNEURS ***

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[Illustration: COLONEL JOHN NAIRNE]

A CANADIAN MANOR AND ITS SEIGNEURS
THE STORY OF A HUNDRED YEARS 1761-1861
BY
GEORGE M. WRONG, M.A. PROFESSOR OF HISTORY IN THE
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS
TORONTO THE BRYANT PRESS, LIMITED 1908
COPYRIGHT, CANADA, 1908 BY GEORGE M. WRONG

PREFACE
In spite of many pleasant summers spent at Murray Bay one had never
thought of it as having a history. The place and its people seemed
simple, untutored, new. Some of the other summer residents talked
complacently even of having discovered it. They had heard of Murray
Bay as beautiful and had gone to explore this unknown country. When
this bold feat was performed there was abundant recompense. Valley,
mountain, river and stream united to make Murray Bay delightful. The
little summer community grew. At first visitors lived in the few
primitive hotels or in cottages at Pointe au Pic, vacated for the time
being by their owners, who found temporary lodgings somewhere,--not
infrequently in their own out-buildings. The cottages left something to
be desired, and, gradually, the visitors bought land and built houses for
themselves: to-day dozens of them dot the western shore of Murray
Bay. In due time appeared tennis courts; then a golf links. Murray Bay
had become, alas, almost fashionable.
It still seemed to have no past. True, near the village church, a
fair-sized house stood, embowered in trees, with a fine view out over

the bay and the wide St. Lawrence. A high fence shut in a beautiful old
garden, with a few great trees: as one drove past one got a glimpse of
shady walks and old-fashioned flowers. The extensive out-buildings
near this manor house, stables, carriage-house, dairy, showed that the
establishment was fairly large. There were sleek cattle in the farm yard.
On one of the out-buildings was a small belfry, with a bell to summon
the work-people from afar to meals, and this seemed like the olden
times when the seigneur fed his labourers under his own roof. On
making a formal call at the manor house one noted that some of the
rooms were of fine proportions and that a good many old portraits and
miniatures hung on the walls. This all spoke of a past; and yet of it one
asked little and knew nothing.
Just across the bay stood another manor house; of stone, too, in this
case not concealed by a covering of wood. Thick walls crowned by a
mansard roof spoke of a respectable age. This manor house, also looked
out on the bay and across the St. Lawrence. One knew that it was
named Mount Murray Manor, while that on the right bank of the river
Murray was called Murray Bay Manor. It was said vaguely that a
Colonel Fraser had dwelt at Mount Murray and a Colonel Nairne at
Murray Bay; but all that one heard was loose tradition and there were
no Nairnes or Frasers of whom one might ask questions. One could see
that, in both places, something like an old world dignity of life had in
the past been kept up.
Making a call at the Murray Bay Manor House, I was told one day of a
manuscript volume in which the first seigneur had copied some of his
letters. I begged to be allowed to spend an afternoon or two in looking
through it. I went and went again. To me the book was absorbing. It
told the story of the first people of British origin who went to settle at
Malbaie, which they named Murray Bay, just after the British conquest;
of the career of a soldier brother of Colonel Nairne who died in India
not long after Plassey; of campaigns fought by Colonel Nairne during
the period of the American Revolution; of his plans and hopes as the
ruler of the little community where he settled. When I had read the
book through, I asked if there was not something more. Yes, there were
some old letters, preserved in a lumber