Pierre de Sales Laterrière
Encyclopedia
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
in 1766. He was inspector and director of the Forges du Saint-Maurice
Forges du Saint-Maurice
Forges du Saint-Maurice , just outside of Trois-Rivières, Quebec, is a National Historic Site of Canada, and birthplace of the country's iron industry....
and seigneur
Seigneurial 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:...
of Les Éboulements
Les Éboulements, Quebec
Les Éboulements is a municipality in the Capitale-Nationale region of Quebec, Canada.Its population centres include Les Éboulements , Éboulements-Est , Cap-aux-Oies, Sainte-Marie-de-Charlevoix, and Saint-Joseph-de-la-Rive Les Éboulements is a municipality in the Capitale-Nationale region of Quebec,...
in New France
New France
New France was the area colonized by France in North America during a period beginning with the exploration of the Saint Lawrence River by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Spain and Great Britain in 1763...
(Canada).
Laterrière was (perhaps) the son of a French count, Jean Pierre De Sales. He was employed as a clerk by Alexandre Dumas
Alexandre Dumas (merchant)
Alexandre Dumas was a lawyer, notary, businessman and political figure in Lower Canada.A Huguenot, Dumas was born in Nègrepelisse, France around 1726 and came to New France in 1751 with a cousin Jean Dumas Saint-Martin as representatives of a French merchant. He was involved with the fisheries in...
at 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...
. In 1769, he left Quebec City to practice medicine with a doctor at Montmagny
Montmagny, Quebec
-External links:*...
. Though he said he had studied medicine in Paris, Laterrière probably began practicing medicine with no formal medical training, not uncommon at that time.
In 1771, he was employed as an agent for the Saint-Maurice ironworks at Quebec City. In 1775, Laterrière was hired as inspector for the ironworks and he moved to Trois-Rivières
Trois-Rivières, Quebec
Trois-Rivières is a city in the Mauricie region of Quebec, Canada, located at the confluence of the Saint-Maurice and Saint Lawrence Rivers. It is situated in the Mauricie administrative region, on the north shore of the Saint Lawrence River across from the city of Bécancour...
. In 1776, the director of the ironworks, Christophe Pélissier, was arrested by the British
Kingdom of Great Britain
The former Kingdom of Great Britain, sometimes described as the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain', That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN. was a sovereign...
for supplying weapons and ammunition to the American army that was advancing towards Quebec. Laterrière was given the post of director after Pélissier fled to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. He also began living with Pélissier's wife, Marie-Catherine Delezenne. Despite public opinion and criticism from the clergy, this free thinker, defender of midwives and freemason lived unmarried with Marie-Catherine until they finally married in 1799, after the death of her first husband.
Imprisoned by the British Governor Frederick Haldimand
Frederick Haldimand
Sir Frederick Haldimand, KB was a military officer best known for his service in the British Army in North America during the Seven Years' War and the American Revolutionary War...
on the day following the American Invasion, he was then exiled in Newfoundland from 1782 to 1783, following a (probably) false charge of treason
Treason
In law, treason is the crime that covers some of the more extreme acts against one's sovereign or nation. Historically, treason also covered the murder of specific social superiors, such as the murder of a husband by his wife. Treason against the king was known as high treason and treason against a...
. He returned to Quebec and settled on a farm at Baie-du-Febvre (later Baieville) where he resumed the practice of medicine. In 1788 the province of Quebec began to insist on doctors producing their credentials or passing an examination. As Laterrière could not produce a medical degree and failed to pass the oral examination he went to study medicine at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
in Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
where a medical school had recently opened and qualified to practice medicine one year later, in 1789. He was Harvard Medical School's first foreign graduate. He returned to Quebec to practice medicine and in 1799, he moved his medical practice to Quebec City. His income from practicing medicine and investments allowed him to purchase the seigneury of Les Éboulements in 1810. He died at Quebec City in 1815.
His sons Marc Pascal
Marc-Pascal de Sales Laterrière
Marc-Pascal de Sales Laterrière was a Quebec doctor, seigneur and political figure.He was born in Baie-du-Febvre, Lower Canada in 1792, the son of Pierre de Sales Laterrière who became the seigneur of Les Éboulements. Laterrière studied at the Petit Séminaire of Quebec and went on to study...
and Pierre-Jean
Pierre-Jean de Sales Laterrière
Pierre-Jean de Sales Laterrière was a doctor, militia officer and author; born 1 July 1789 in Baie-du-Febvre , Que., elder son of Pierre de Sales Laterrière and Marie-Catherine Delezenne; m. 16 Aug. 1815 Mary Ann Bulmer in London....
both became doctors and important figures in the province.
External links
- Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
- La famille de Sales Laterrière, H-R Casgrain (1870) (french)
- Crawford David S. Theses in the Osler Library including that of Pierre de Sales Laterriere. Osler Library Newsletter No. 111, 2009.
- Andres, Bernard. L'enigme de Sales Laterriere. Montreal, Quebec Amerique, 2000. ISBN 9782764400500
- Les mémoires de Pierre de Sales Laterrière ; suivi de correspondances / [édité par] Bernard Andrès. Montreal, Triptyque 2003. ISBN 9782890314917