Famous Firesides of French CanadaAlloway, Mary Wilson
History
Famous Firesides of French Canada
Alloway, Mary Wilson
Québec (Province) -- History
De Ramezay was of an old Franco-Scottish family, being descended by
_Thimothy_, his father, from one Sir John Ramsay, a Scotchman, who, with
others of his compatriots, went over to France in the 16th century. He
may have joined an army raised for the French wars, or may have formed
part of a bridal train similar to the gay retinue of the fair Princess
Mary, who went from the dark fells and misty lochs of the land of the
Royal Stuarts to be the loveliest queen who ever sat on the throne of
_la belle France_. De Ramezay was the father of thirteen children, by
his wife, Mademoiselle Denys de la Ronde, a sister of Mesdames Thomas
Tarieu de La Naudiere de La Perade, d'Ailleboust d'Argenteuil, Chartier
de Lotbiniere and Aubert de la Chenage, the same family out of whom came
the celebrated de Jumonville, so well known in connection with the
unfortunate circumstances of Fort Necessity. The original of the
marriage contract is still preserved in the records of the Montreal
Court House; with its long list of autographs of Governor, Intendant,
and high officials, civil and military, scions of the nobility of the
country, appended thereto. The annals of the family tell us that some of
them died in infancy, several met violent and untimely deaths, two of
the sisters took conventual vows in the cloisters of Quebec, two
married, having descendants now living in France and Canada, and two
remained unmarried.
De Ramezay came over as a captain in the army with the Viceroy de Tracy,
and was remarkable for his highly refined education, having been a pupil
of the celebrated Fenelon, who was said to have been the pattern of
virtue in the midst of a corrupt court, and who was entrusted by Louis
the Fourteenth with the education of his grandsons, the Dukes of
Burgundy, Anjou and Berri. Had the first named, who was heir-presumptive
to the throne, lived to practice the princely virtues, the seeds of
which his preceptor had sown in his heart, some of the most bloody pages
in French history might never have been written.
De Ramezay, for many years being Governor of Montreal, held official
court in the Council chamber to the right of the entrance hall of the
Chateau, which is now a museum of rare and valuable relics of Canada's
past.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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