TORONTO (North York)

In the publication titled "The Founding of Toronto: and the francophone presence from 1720 to date" the Société d’histoire de Toronto identified several sites alongside the Humber indicating the presence of the three nations. The following paragraph borrows liberally from of this publication. The Humber River was part of one of the fur trading routes, the southern route, which started in Montreal, went up the Saint-Lawrence River to Lake Ontario, and then up the Humber River Portage to Lake Simcoe and Huronia on the Georgian Bay.

The places indicating the french-speaking presence alongside the Humber are, in chronological order:

• The Étienne Brulé Portage, a portage used by Étienne in 1615. This portage connected Huronia to the Great Lakes.
• The name of Toronto is of native origin, but René-Robert de LaSalle was one of the first to use the name. When he narrated in his 1680 travel notes his passage by the Humber River Portage, he called it "the Toronto portage".
• The site of Douville Fort, the first of the three French forts of Toronto, was built in 1720 to protect the fur trade. Several years after Canada was abandoned by Louis XV, the site of this fort was granted by Governor Simcoe to Jacques Baby, a Frenchman from Detroit and a member of his Council. The site is now known as Baby Point.
• The site of the second French fort of Toronto built in 1749 by the Chevalier de Portneuf. The success of this second fort was such that the marquis de la Jonquière, Governor of Quebec, wrote to the Minister of the Navy and Colonies, Antoine-Louis Rouillé, recommending that a larger fort be constructed immediately.
• The construction of the third French fort, fort Rouillé, began in 1750. The fort was burned in 1759 by the French themselves when captain Douville received the order to destroy the fort and to withdraw to Montréal with his fifteen men.The land was leveled in 1878 with the development of the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE).
• Cavalier de La Salle built four small sloops - named the Frontenac, the Cataracoui, the General and the last one unidentified - in a shipyard around Fort Frontenac. This French fleet often sheltered in front of Fort Rouillé after 1678
• Around 1790, Jean-Baptiste Rousseaux and his second wife, Margaret Clyne, the adopted daughter of the great Iroquois chief Joseph Brant, built their house on the site of the Portneuf fort. They had their daughter Marie-Reinette there, the first Franco-Ontarian girl born in Toronto, and the Simcoes were their guests when they arrived in Toronto.

A francophone co-founder of Toronto :
The window of the condominium where resides the founder of the Toronto Branch oversees Berczy Park, a green oasis right in the center of Toronto. The sculpture of a family welcomes you as you enter the park. At the foot of the statue, a plaque reads: “This sculpture was donated by The Historical Society of Mecklenburg Upper Canada Inc., with the financial assistance of The Consumer's Gas Company Limited and The Council of Metropolitan Toronto, in memory of Johann Albrecht Ulrich Moll, better known as William Berczy, born December 10, 1744 in Wallerstein, Germany. He was co-founder of York (Toronto) in 1794 when John Graves Simcoe was Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada. His younger son, Charles Albert Berczy, was the first president of The Consumers’ Gas Company from 1847 to 1856, and Postmaster of Toronto. His older son, William Bent Berczy, was a Member of The Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada and like his father and mother, a gifted painter”.

The plaque tells us that the father was born in Germany, and his history is well known in Toronto. It tells us that the family settled in York in 1794. It also mentions the roles of both sons in Toronto’s society. But the only thing it divulges about the mother is that she was the wife of William Berczy, mother to William Bent and Charles Albert Berczy, as well as being a painter. When searching for the identity of Mrs. Berczy one discovers that this sculpture is in fact a representation of one of the first French-speaking families of Toronto.

Ronald Stagg, who wrote the biography of William Berczy in the Biography Dictionary of Canada, states that William Berczy married Jeanne-Charlotte Allamand in Lausanne, Switzerland, on Novembre 1st, 1785. An article signed by Julie Roy in the French periodical Cap-aux-Diamants, No 66 summer 2001, "Jeanne-Charlotte Allamand-Berczy Founder of Toronto and woman of wit and learning" (translation), tells us that Jeanne Charlotte Allamand’s mother tongue was French, that the Berczys had exchanged many letters during his multiple trips, and that their correspondence was written mostly in French. Doctor Roy found this correspondence in the Fonds Baby at the Archives of the Université de Montréal. A transcription can also be found at the National Archives in Ottawa.

The mother tongue is learned on the knees of the mother. It is also the language spoken at home. A reading of the correspondence exchanged by the Berczys confirms the affirmation of Julie Roy that the language used in private by these polyglots (Charlotte taught English, French, German, and Italian in Montréal) was French indeed. Julie Roy concludes her article in the magazine Cap-aud-Diamants: "If William von Moll Berczy is recognized today as the founder of the city of Toronto and one of the most remarkable painters of the beginning of the XIXe century, it is time to give Jeanne-Charlotte Allamand her due credit in this colonization enterprise at the origin of Canada’s current metropolis". (translation)

Other colourful french speaking characters :
The Société d’histoire de Toronto presents other Francophones. Laurent Quetton Saint George left France because of the revolution and immigrated to Upper Canada with forty-four other French nationals. He went into fur-trading, peddling and speculating in real-estate. In 1802, he opens a store near Niagara and in 1803 a business retail in York. He built the first brick house at the corner of King and Frederick streets in 1807 and when he returns to France in 1815, he had become one of the richest and most respected merchants in the city. Resettled in Ontario in 1846, his son Henry opened a wine and liquor store.

The most remarkable character of this period is Jacques Baby, who occupied more then 115 positions of varying importance between 1792 and 1830. In 1815, when he was appointed Inspector General of Upper-Canada, he settled in Toronto with his family. In 1822, he contributed to the building of St. Paul’s, the first Catholic Church in Toronto.

Another Francophone, Mgr. de Charbonnel, the second bishop of Toronto, remains associated with the construction of St. Michael’s cathedral, the hospital and college of the same name, as well as his skirmishes with the Methodist minister and famous educator, Egerton Ryerson, on the issue of establishing public school.

Developpement of Toronto french-speaking community :
Beginning in the 19th century, many French Canadians, instead of crossing the border to work in the factories of New England, decided to settle in Toronto. In 1887 there were enough of them to establish "l’Église du Sacré-Cœur" the first French parish in Toronto.

History : The Toronto branch of the SFOHG
September 7, 1994 saw the birth of the Toronto Branch. The founder is Louise St Denis. The founding group was composed of people involved in the promotion of the French culture in Ontario, champions of the French language, genealogy buffs and Toronto heritage historians. Some members of the group attended the SFOHG Annual Meeting of 1994 held in Hawkesbury.

1995 Official beginning
In March, as required by the statutes and regulations of the SFOHG, the thirty-six founding members elected the members of the regional council for 1995. Louise St Denis is elected president and treasurer. The post of vice president and secretary went to Jean Yves Pelletier. The elected directors are: Rolande Beauchemin, Norman Blanchette, Madeleine Gauthier, Suzanne Leblanc, Bernard Pilotte, Hélène Pilotte, Georges Larochelle.

In March and April 1995, sixty five boxes of books arrived to O’Malley’s in Toronto, since there was yet no official local for the Branch. This came a little later, at the beginning of May, when a memorandum of understanding was signed between the Toronto Branch and the Central Library of North York to house our new collection of books.

Monday May 22, the Toronto Branch was proud to present the first workshop/conference given by no other than the regretted historian and genealogist René Jetté. The theme of the workshop was "Researching your ancestors?" and the event took place at O’Malley’s, then located at 147 Dundas st. East, in Toronto.

John Jakobson, a resource person from the Central Library of North York, was invited to explain to the members of the Branch the genealogical resources available at the library.

The official opening of the SFOHG – Toronto Branch took place on Sunday November 12, 1995 at the Central Library of North York, which became the North York Central Branch of the Toronto Public Library.

Francophones were present on the territory which became the Toronto region ever since Europeans settled in Canada. La Société d’histoire de Toronto, www.sht.ca, a partner of the Toronto Branch of the SFOHG, has made a proposal for an historical park to be located along both banks of the Humber River. The river had been used by the three founding nations of Canada, the native Americans, the French and the English.

In the publication titled The Founding of Toronto and the francophone presence from 1720 to date,  the Société d’histoire de Toronto identified several sites alongside the Humber indicating the presence of the three nations.  The following paragraph borrows liberally from of this publication. The Humber River was part of one of the fur trading routes, the southern route, which started in Montreal, went up the Saint-Lawrence River to Lake Ontario, and then up the Humber River Portage to Lake Simcoe and Huronia on the Georgian Bay.

SERVICES OFFERED : 
Research Center :
Our collection is housed at the North York Central Branch of the Toronto Public Library, Canadiana Room, on the 6th floor. The SFOHG-Toronto Branch offers a help service by appointment only. Members can always consult our resources on presentation of their membership card during the normal library hours.
Contact the Toronto Branch for the address of the research center.

Our most popular research tools :

• Drouin Microfiches, indexed by Men and by Women, obtained in 2002 thanks to a grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation
• 2 CD-ROMs on our computer, the PRDH and the Dictionnaire généalogique du Québec ancien des origines à 1765 (translation: Genealogical dictionary of old Quebec from the origins to 1765).
• Parish repertoires
• The most consulted book is the Finding Aid that gives the call number of every book in our collection, as our collection is in the stacks, not in the public area.

ANNUAL CONTRIBUTION :
       Individual member :          25$
       Couple member :              35$
       Student :                         15$
       Lifetime member:           250$
       Lifetime couple member: 350$

SUBSCRIPTION FOR "LE CHAÎNON":

For our members:              10$
Regular price:                    30$

BOARD OF DIRECTORS :
Président : Paul De La Franier
Vice-présidente : Jeannine Bourelle-Strachan
Secretary : Paul O. Leclerc
Treasurer : Roland Salvas
Directors : Bernard Pilotte, Hélène Pilotte, Lise Leclerc et John Mahler.

Provincial director: Lise Leclerc

The Board of the Toronto Branch meets nine times a year, and the Branch board meetings are open to all members.

We present two workshops/conferences per year: one mid-November, the second one mid-March. The Annual General Meeting is held mid-March, right after the workshop.

Periodical "Traces du Passé" : This publication of the SFOHG Toronto Branch is published three times a year in French and English: September, December and March. The editor of “Traces du Passé” is Paul Leclerc and proofreading is done by Nora Davidson.