Wilmont Kreis

Early Ville-Marie -Montreal – The difference in names: (Continued from last week) In the Cathéderal of Notre Dame de Paris, this group of Frenchmen formed l’Association de Montreal and planned to send a group to Canada to settle on the island. Late in the next season, they departed France with 35 men, 10 women, a few nuns and one wealthy benefactor. Landing in October, they wintered near Québec. Sailing for the island in the spring, they founded the village of Ville -Marie. Their early years were difficult and occasionally deadly, but they eventually emerged as Canada’s great city. So the answer is: Montreal is an island (Mont Royal) and Ville-Marie is the City of Mary. Read More 

Early Ville Marie - Montreal—The difference in names: 1536: Very Early in French-Canadian history. Jacques Cartier passed the large island while exploring the St. Lawrence River. It is said he exclaimed, “Quel Mont Royal!” Hence the name Montreal. He tried to enter the native village of Hochelaga on the island, but was run off. As legend has it, the name held. It was not until 1612, however, that Samuel Champlain sailed by and tried to engage the natives in trade, again without success. In 1639, a tax collector (of all things), Jerome de Royer de la Dauversiere, set a small camp here with little effect, and it was not until 1641, that a group of religious Frenchmen met at the Cathéderal of Notre Dame de Paris… Continued next week. Read More