The house of Hébert has been one of the foremost families of the Dominion since the early dawn of Canadian history. One of the first Canadian farmers, Louis Hébert, arrived in Quebec with his family in 1617. Tradition has it that previously he passed some time in Acadia, where he “was the first to utilize the salt-water marshes of the Bay of Fundy by building dikes to keep out the tides.” He continued to cultivate the soil at Quebec and on February 28, 1626, as a reward to him and an encouragement to others, the Duc de Ventadour, viceroy of New France, issued a patent granting Hébert “in fief noble to him and his assigns forever” a seignorial domain on the River St. Charles, near Quebec, and confirming to him a concession made by the preceding viceroy, the Duc de Montmorency. It was expressly stated in the deed that these grants were made in consideration of Hébert’s “long and painful labors, perils and expenses, incessantly supported in the discovery of the lands of Canada and that he is the head of the first family which has settled and dwelt there since the year 1600 till now * * * having left his relations and friends to go and form this commencement of a colony of Christian people in those lands * * * which are deprived of the knowledge of God.” Charles Lecroix Hébert, a rich trader and the first farmer on the island of Montreal, built a residence in 1655 on Jean Baptiste Street, which is still standing and which is shown in one of the illustrations of this history. Hébert, named Larivière, was born in 1633 and was a companion in arms of Dollard and present at the massacre of Long Sault in May, 1660. Edouard Napoléon Hébert was born in Montreal on March 10, 1874, and is a son of J. Napoléon Hébert, who was born January 14, 1850. His father, Louis Hébert, the grandfather of our subject, was born in Quebec in 1810 or 1812 and from that city removed to Montreal, while his father was the proprietor of the Boulangerie du Roi (bakery of the king) at Quebec. This establishment was subsequently continued by one of his sons, a brother of the grandfather of our subject.