The French Canadians in the Province of Quebec

THE ancestors of the French Canadians came from the northwest of France, chiefly from Normandy, Perche, Beauce, Maine, Anjou, Touraine, Poitou, Aunis, Angoumois, Saintonge, and part of Gascony. Nineteen twentieths of this population were derived from the above-mentioned provinces, and not from Brittany, as has often been stated. New France, during her infancy, required tillers of the soil, and Brittany produced, properly speaking, only fishermen. These tillers of the soil could come only from the provinces having sea-port connections with Quebec. It was vessels sailing from the ports of Dieppe and Honfleur, from the mouth of the Loire, from Rochefort and La Rochelle, that brought us these tillers of the soil, each one of whom could also ply a trade, such as joiner, cabinetmaker, wheelwright, miller, blacksmith, etc. Let it be noted further that no prisoners, civil or criminal, were sent out

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