Beauce, Quebec
Encyclopedia
Beauce is a historical and traditional region of Quebec
located south of Quebec City
. It corresponds approximately to the regional county municipalities
of Beauce-Sartigan
, Robert-Cliche
and La Nouvelle-Beauce
, and its major communities are Saint-Georges
, Sainte-Marie
, Beauceville
, Saint-Joseph-de-Beauce
and Saint-Gédéon-de-Beauce
.
granted earlier along the Chaudière River
and who would later become the current cities of Sainte-Marie, Saint-Joseph-de-Beauce, Beauceville, and Saint-Georges, as well as several other communities which would detach from these territories.
According to accounts from Governor Charles de Beauharnois
and Intendant Gilles Hocquart
, ‘’Beauce’’ was chosen by seigneurs Joseph de Fleury de La Gorgendière, Pierre de Rigaud de Vaudreuil and Thomas-Jacques Taschereau
to develop the potential of colonization, as the name recalls the French Beauce
, a region renowned for its wheat production. In 1829, the name represented a county extending to the Canada-U.S. border with Maine
.
Later, Beauce would also be the name of administrative, municipal, electoral, school and judicial subdivisions, without always concurrent borders. Today, residents of neighbouring regional county municipalities consider themselves "Beaucerons" (m.) or "Beauceronnes" (fem.), because of these former administrative links.
Historically, Beaucerons have also been known under the nickname of "Jarrets noirs" (Black Hocks). Travelling to Quebec City took up to one week, and because of the hilly roads and their conditions, they would often have to push their farm carts. They would get their legs dirty and arrive at destination with their hocks
black.
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
located south of Quebec City
Quebec City
Quebec , also Québec, Quebec City or Québec City is the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec and is located within the Capitale-Nationale region. It is the second most populous city in Quebec after Montreal, which is about to the southwest...
. It corresponds approximately to the regional county municipalities
Regional county municipality
The term regional county municipality or RCM is used in Quebec to designate one of 86 county-like political and geographic units. In most cases, they are also census divisions. Regional County Municipalities are a supralocal type of "Regional Municipality" and are still commonly referred to as...
of Beauce-Sartigan
Beauce-Sartigan Regional County Municipality, Quebec
Beauce-Sartigan is a regional county municipality in southeastern Quebec, Canada, on the Chaudière River, in Chaudière-Appalaches. It shares its eastern border with Maine, United States. The county seat is Saint-Georges....
, Robert-Cliche
Robert-Cliche Regional County Municipality, Quebec
Robert-Cliche is a regional county municipality in southeastern Quebec, Canada, on the Chaudière River, in Chaudière-Appalaches, between La Nouvelle-Beauce and Beauce-Sartigan....
and La Nouvelle-Beauce
La Nouvelle-Beauce Regional County Municipality, Quebec
La Nouvelle-Beauce is a regional county municipality in southeastern Quebec, Canada, south of the Saint Lawrence River. It is located south of Lévis, in Chaudière-Appalaches, along the Chaudière River....
, and its major communities are Saint-Georges
Saint-Georges, Quebec
Saint-Georges is a city in the province of Quebec. It is the seat of Beauce-Sartigan Regional County Municipality, part of the Chaudière-Appalaches region. The population was 30,113 as of 2009. Route 173 runs through Saint-Georges Est and heads south to the border with Maine, USA...
, Sainte-Marie
Sainte-Marie, Quebec
-References:**- External links :*...
, Beauceville
Beauceville, Quebec
Beauceville is a city in and the seat of the Municipalité régionale de comté Robert-Cliche in Quebec, Canada. It is part of the Chaudière-Appalaches region and the population was 6,226 as of the Canada 2006 Census....
, Saint-Joseph-de-Beauce
Saint-Joseph-de-Beauce, Quebec
Saint-Joseph-de-Beauce is a city in the Municipalité régionale de comté Robert-Cliche in Quebec, Canada. It is part of the Chaudière-Appalaches region and the population is 4,490 as of 2009....
and Saint-Gédéon-de-Beauce
Saint-Gédéon-de-Beauce, Quebec
Saint-Gédéon-de-Beauce is a municipality in the Municipalité régionale de comté de Beauce-Sartigan in Quebec, Canada. It is part of the Chaudière-Appalaches region and the population is 2,343 as of 2009. It is named after biblical judge Gideon....
.
Name
The first record of the name goes back to 1739. "Nouvelle Beauce" (New Beauce) designated the seigneuriesSeigneurial system of New France
The seigneurial system of New France was the semi-feudal system of land distribution used in the North American colonies of New France.-Introduction to New France:...
granted earlier along the Chaudière River
Chaudière River
The Chaudière River is a long river with its source near the Town of Lac-Mégantic, in southeast Quebec, Canada. From its source Lake Megantic in the Chaudière-Appalaches region, it runs northwards to flow into the St. Lawrence River opposite Quebec City...
and who would later become the current cities of Sainte-Marie, Saint-Joseph-de-Beauce, Beauceville, and Saint-Georges, as well as several other communities which would detach from these territories.
According to accounts from Governor Charles de Beauharnois
Charles de la Boische, Marquis de Beauharnois
Charles de la Boische, Marquis de Beauharnois was a French Naval officer who served as Governor of New France from 1726 to 1746.Charles had two brothers who also impacted the history of New France...
and Intendant Gilles Hocquart
Gilles Hocquart
Gilles Hocquart was from France and minor nobility. The family were successful administrators and financiers.Hocquart was chosen to replace Claude-Thomas Dupuy as Intendant of New France because of his background and because he was deemed to be a more compatible choice to work with Governor...
, ‘’Beauce’’ was chosen by seigneurs Joseph de Fleury de La Gorgendière, Pierre de Rigaud de Vaudreuil and Thomas-Jacques Taschereau
Thomas-Jacques Taschereau
Thomas-Jacques Taschereau was the patriarch of the illustrious Taschereau family in New France . It is believed that he may have come from some level of nobility in France and his family descended from a line of royal of municipal officials...
to develop the potential of colonization, as the name recalls the French Beauce
Beauce
Beauce is a natural region in northern France, located between the Seine and Loire rivers. It now comprises the Eure-et-Loir département and parts of Loiret, Essonne and Loir-et-Cher. The region shared the history of the province of Orléanais and the county of Chartres, which is its only major...
, a region renowned for its wheat production. In 1829, the name represented a county extending to the Canada-U.S. border with Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
.
Later, Beauce would also be the name of administrative, municipal, electoral, school and judicial subdivisions, without always concurrent borders. Today, residents of neighbouring regional county municipalities consider themselves "Beaucerons" (m.) or "Beauceronnes" (fem.), because of these former administrative links.
Historically, Beaucerons have also been known under the nickname of "Jarrets noirs" (Black Hocks). Travelling to Quebec City took up to one week, and because of the hilly roads and their conditions, they would often have to push their farm carts. They would get their legs dirty and arrive at destination with their hocks
Hock (zoology)
The hock, or gambrel, is the joint between the tarsal bones and tibia of a digitigrade or unguligrade quadrupedal mammal, such as a horse, cat, or dog...
black.
Economy
Exclusively agricultural for many years, Beauce’s economy slowly diversified in the first half of the 20th century through forestry, wood processing, and the leather and textile industries. In 1951, the industrial production value became for the first time superior to agriculture, likely due to strong local entrepreneurship and cheap labour. Today’s economy relies especially on small and medium enterprises in the industries of furniture, food, clothing, printing and metalworking.People linked to Beauce
- Marius BarbeauMarius BarbeauCharles Marius Barbeau, , also known as C. Marius Barbeau, or more commonly simply Marius Barbeau, was a Canadian ethnographer and folklorist who is today considered a founder of Canadian anthropology...
, ethnographer - Jesse BélangerJesse BelangerJesse Bélanger is a former professional ice hockey centre who played in the National Hockey League from 1991 to 2001.-Playing career:...
, NHLNational Hockey LeagueThe National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
hockey player - Gilles BernierGilles Bernier (Quebec politician)Gilles Bernier, MP is a former Canadian politician and diplomat. He was the Member of Parliament representing the riding of Beauce from 1984 to 1997, initially as a Progressive Conservative and later as an Independent...
, Canadian politician - Maxime BernierMaxime BernierMaxime Bernier, PC, MP is a Canadian politician currently serving as the Minister of State for Small Business and Tourism in the cabinet of Prime Minister Stephen Harper....
, Canadian politician - Roch CarrierRoch CarrierRoch Carrier, OC is a Canadian novelist and author of "contes" . He is among the best known Quebec writers in English Canada....
, author - William Chapman, poet
- Robert ClicheRobert ClicheRobert was a Canadian judge, lawyer and politician, who served as the leader of the New Democratic Party of Quebec, as well as the Quebec lieutenant to federal New Democratic Party leader Tommy Douglas, from 1964 to 1968...
, Quebec politician - Marcel DutilMarcel DutilMarcel Dutil, CM, CQ is a Canadian businessman. In 1963, he began working at Canam Steel Works, a company founded by his father Roger Dutil in 1960. In 1973, he became CEO of his father's company now known as the Canam inc.; Marcel Dutil is also the grandson of Édouard Lacroix.-External links:* *...
, businessman - Éric Maheu, KaïnKaïnKaïn is a folk rock group from the town of Drummondville, Quebec, Canada. The group of four is made up of Steve Veilleux , Yanick Blanchette , Patrick Lemieux and Éric Maheu...
bass player - Clermont PépinClermont PépinClermont Pépin, was a Canadian pianist, composer and teacher.He was born Jean Joseph Clermont Pépin in Saint-Georges, Quebec in 1926. Pépin studied with influential Canadian composers Claude Champagne and Arnold Walter , and at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia from 1941 to 1944 with...
, composer - Jacques PoulinJacques PoulinJacques Poulin is a Canadian novelist with a quiet and intimate style of writing.Poulin studied psychology and arts at the Université Laval in Quebec City; he started his career as commercial translator and later became a college guidance counselor...
, novelist - Marie-Philip PoulinMarie-Philip PoulinMarie-Philip Poulin is a Canadian ice hockey forward, now playing for the Boston University Terriers. Poulin was a member of the Canada women's national ice hockey team that won the gold medal at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, and had previously played for the Dawson College Blues...
, hockey player - George PozerGeorge PozerGeorge Pozer is the anglicised name of Johann Georg Pfotzer who was a merchant, landowner and the fourth Seigneur of Aubert-Gallion....
, businessman - Fabien RoyFabien RoyFabien Roy was a politician in Quebec, Canada, in the 1970s. Roy was elected to the National Assembly of Quebec and the Canadian House of Commons, and advocated social credit theories of monetary reform.-Background:...
, Canadian politician - Mathieu RoyMathieu RoyMathieu Roy also known as Matt Roy is a professional ice hockey defenceman with the Carolina Hurricanes organization of the National Hockey League .-Playing career:...
, NHLNational Hockey LeagueThe National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
hockey player - Alex TanguayAlex TanguayAlexandre Tanguay is a Canadian professional ice hockey winger currently with the Calgary Flames of the National Hockey League . He has additionally played with the Colorado Avalanche, Montreal Canadiens and Tampa Bay Lightning in the NHL and briefly for HC Lugano in the Swiss National League A in...
, NHLNational Hockey LeagueThe National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
hockey player - Elzéar-Alexandre TaschereauElzéar-Alexandre TaschereauElzéar-Alexandre Taschereau was a Canadian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Quebec from 1871 until his death in 1898...
, clergyman - Henri Elzéar TaschereauHenri Elzéar TaschereauSir Henri-Elzéar Taschereau, PC was a Canadian jurist and Chief Justice of Canada.He was born in his family's seigneurial manor house at Sainte-Marie-de-la-Beauce, Lower Canada to Pierre-Elzéar Taschereau and Catherine Hénédine Dionne. Tashereau attended the Université Laval and was called to the...
, judge - Stéphane Veilleux, NHLNational Hockey LeagueThe National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
hockey player
See also
- List of Quebec regions
- Chaudière-AppalachesChaudière-AppalachesChaudière-Appalaches is an administrative region in Quebec, Canada. It comprises most of what is historically known as the "Beauce" |the electoral district of Beauce]]). It is named for the Chaudière River and the Appalachian Mountains....
- Beauce-Sartigan Regional County Municipality, QuebecBeauce-Sartigan Regional County Municipality, QuebecBeauce-Sartigan is a regional county municipality in southeastern Quebec, Canada, on the Chaudière River, in Chaudière-Appalaches. It shares its eastern border with Maine, United States. The county seat is Saint-Georges....
- La Nouvelle-Beauce Regional County Municipality, QuebecLa Nouvelle-Beauce Regional County Municipality, QuebecLa Nouvelle-Beauce is a regional county municipality in southeastern Quebec, Canada, south of the Saint Lawrence River. It is located south of Lévis, in Chaudière-Appalaches, along the Chaudière River....
- Robert-Cliche Regional County Municipality, QuebecRobert-Cliche Regional County Municipality, QuebecRobert-Cliche is a regional county municipality in southeastern Quebec, Canada, on the Chaudière River, in Chaudière-Appalaches, between La Nouvelle-Beauce and Beauce-Sartigan....