Visit to Saint-Hyacinthe

River Yamaska with Notre Dame on left and Cathedral on right

Saint-Hyacinthe is a small village with about 53,000 inhabitants located on the Yamaska River. It is approximately 35 miles east of Montreal. In the mid 1800's, the time when our great great grandparents (Magloire Morin and Marguerite Soly) lived here, the population was less than 10,000. I recently had an opportunity to visit this beautiful area.

The Saint-Hyacinthe Market

It was Saturday and the Library of the Seminary of Saint-Hyacinthe would close early.We had lunch, took a quick drive around town and then found the library. The Seminary is a private secondary school founded in 1811. In that library is a special room for genealogical studies only open three days a week. There is also another historical library in the building open daily.

I paid my $5.00 visitor's fee at the genealogy library and was helped by a volunteer who showed me the local family histories and helped me search for more family information. He encouraged me to come back to visit the history library on Monday. 

The next day was Sunday and we attended a French Mass at Notre-Dame-du-Rosaire (Our Lady of the Rosary). This is the church where 4x great grandparents: Joseph Crete married Marie Dugas in 1785 and Laurent Soly married Marie Josephte Crete in 1805. Also, 3x great grandparents:  Joseph Marie Morin married Reine Cormier in 1816. Dozens more relatives were baptized and married here. There is also the Cathedral of Saint-Hyacinthe about one block away on the same street where more ancestors were married and baptized. (This was a genealogist's dream.)

The church bell, which rang for many years calling people to prayer, was rebuilt by Pierre Soly in 1846. Pierre was the son of our 3x great grandfather (with the same name) and brother of Marguerite Soly. Many of his descendants still live in this area. In fact, I have been put in contact with a distant relative in Quebec and his name is ... Pierre Soly.

After Mass, we went for a drive to visit some of the other villages in the area. We looked for Brittania Mills, where Magliore Morin was born and worked as a boulanger. (We later learned that this town name has changed to Saint Damase.) We continued our drive to Marieville, the birth home of great grandmother Azilda Desroches. We then went on to Mont-Saint-Gregoire, the home of the Bessette family. The countryside was beautiful with fall color and small streams along side the road. There was more to see, but it was time to head back to the hotel.

We even stopped at a few cemeteries. (Well things are pretty dead on Sundays).

Found a great headstone

On Monday, we returned to visit the history library and met with a volunteer who helped us with local information. 

Checking Canada City Directories

I learned that great grandfather Magliore Morin lived in a very small community formerly Britannia Mills which is now the town of Saint Damase. We left Saint-Hyacinthe after lunch and continued to our next destination: Trois-Riviere.

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