Jacques Viger (May 7,1787 – December 12,1858) was an antiquarian,archaeologist,and the first mayor of Montreal,Quebec,Canada.
Viger was born in Montreal,the son of Jacques Viger who represented Kent in the 2nd Parliament of Lower Canada,and studied at the Sulpician college of Montreal. On November 17,1808,he married Marie Marguerite La Corne,daughter of Luc de la Corne,and widow of Major the Hon. John Lennox. They had three children,all of whom died in infancy.
After his studies he went to Quebec,where he worked as an editor of the newspaper Le Canadien from November 1808 to May 1809. Viger served as captain in the Canadian Voltigeurs unit under Charles de Salaberry during the War of 1812. He was elected the first mayor of Montreal in 1833 and worked to improve its sanitary conditions. Although he wrote little,his reputation as an archaeologist was universal,and the greatest contemporary historians of France and the United States have drawn from his collection of manuscripts,based on forty years of research. He compiled a chronicle under the title of "Sabretache" (28 vols.),wherein he gathered plans,maps,portraits,and valuable notes illustrating many contested historical points. He was the founder of the Historical Society of Montreal in 1857,one year before his death. Pope Pius IX honoured him with the knighthood of the Order of St. Gregory the Great.
He died December 12,1858,at age 71,and was buried in the crypt of the Notre-Dame-de-Grâce Church on December 15.
The Viger Square and Jacques Viger Building in Montreal are named in his honour.
Pierre Gaultier de Varennes,sieur de La Vérendrye was a French Canadian military officer,fur trader,and explorer. In the 1730s,he and his four sons explored the area west of Lake Superior and established trading posts there. They were part of a process that added Western Canada to the original New France territory that was centred along the Saint Lawrence basin.
Louis-Joseph Papineau,born in Montreal,Quebec,was a politician,lawyer,and the landlord of the seigneurie de la Petite-Nation. He was the leader of the reformist Patriote movement before the Lower Canada Rebellion of 1837–1838. His father was Joseph Papineau,also a politician in Quebec. Papineau was the eldest of eight children and was the grandfather of the journalist Henri Bourassa,founder of the newspaper Le Devoir.
Octave Crémazie was a French Canadian poet and bookseller born in Quebec City. Recognized both during and after his lifetime for his patriotic verse and his significant role in the cultural development of Quebec,Crémazie has been called "the father of French Canadian poetry."
This section of the Timeline of Quebec history concerns the events in British North America relating to what is the present day province of Quebec,Canada between the time of the Constitutional Act of 1791 and the Act of Union 1840.
Ignace Bourget was a Canadian Roman Catholic priest who held the title of Bishop of Montreal from 1840 to 1876. Born in Lévis,Quebec,in 1799,Bourget entered the clergy at an early age,undertook several courses of religious study,and in 1837 was named co-adjutor bishop of the newly created bishopric of Montreal. Following the death of Jean-Jacques Lartigue in 1840,Bourget became Bishop of Montreal.
Denis-Benjamin Viger was a 19th-century politician,lawyer,and newspaper publisher in Lower Canada,who served as joint premier of the Province of Canada for over two years. A leader in the Patriote movement,he was a strong French-Canadian nationalist,but a social conservative in terms of the seigneurial system and the position of the Catholic church in Lower Canada.
Pierre St-Jean was a Canadian doctor and politician.
Jacques Legardeur de Saint-Pierre was a Canadian colonial military commander and explorer who held posts throughout North America in the 18th century,just before and during the French and Indian War.
Louis Labrèche-Viger was a Quebec businessman,journalist and political figure.
Joseph-Guillaume Barthe was a lawyer,journalist,poet and political figure in Lower Canada and Canada East,Province of Canada. He served one term in the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada,as a supporter of Louis-Joseph Papineau and Denis-Benjamin Viger. He opposed Louis-Hippolyte LaFontaine's policy of building a reform alliance within the framework of the Province of Canada.
Louis-Michel Viger was a lawyer,banker,businessman,seigneur and political figure in Lower Canada,and then in Canada East in the Province of Canada.
Charles Laberge was a Quebec lawyer,journalist and political figure.
Antoine-Olivier Berthelet was a businessman,philanthropist and political figure in Lower Canada.
Denis Viger was a carpenter,businessman,and politician in Lower Canada.
Jonathan Saxton Campbell Würtele,was a Quebec seigneur,lawyer,judge and political figure. He represented Yamaska in the Legislative Assembly of Quebec from 1875 to 1886.
Côme-Séraphin Cherrier was a lawyer and political figure in Lower Canada.
Félix Martin was a Jesuit,antiquary,historiographer,architect,and educationist.
Francis Cassidy,was a Canadian lawyer and politician,the Mayor of Montreal,Quebec for three months in 1873,until his term was cut short by death.
Jacques Viger was a political figure in Lower Canada.
Michael O'Sullivan was a lawyer,militia officer,politician and judge in Lower Canada. Born in Clonmel,Ireland,he emigrated to Lower Canada as a child and was educated at the Collège Saint-Raphaël,where he began a life-long association with the Roman Catholic Sulpician order. He became a prominent member of the bar of Lower Canada,as well as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada and Solicitor-general for Lower Canada.