The History of the Becigneul Family's arrival in Canada

History of the Bécigneul Family

Its Arrival in Canada

The arrival of the Bécigneul family in Canada is closely linked to the role played by the Compagnie Nantaise in the birth and development of Mégantic, a village near the American border in the province of Quebec. Around 1880 J.A. Chicoyne, a lawyer in Sherbrooke was involved in attracting French or Belgian immigrants to the Eastern Townships. With this purpose in mind, Mr. Chicoyne travelled to Europe in 1880. He was invited by a friend to come to Nantes to explain his plans for colonization to prominent persons. Mr. Adoiphe Bécigneul, our great-grandfather welcomed them to his home; Rev. Fr. Paul Peigné, Adoiphe’s uncle was also present. Mr. Chicoyne explained all the aspects of his project; the plan was that the Canadians would open up the land of the Eastern Townships to colonization and settle the immigrants where the English were trying to establish a monopoly in the lumber trade. Rev. Paul Peigné’s family had considerable wealth. Seeing that much good could result from Mr. Chicoyne’s project, Fr. Peigné advanced him 100,000 franc or $20,000. However, the loan rested on the condition that his great-nephew Eugene Bécigneul, an accountant, accompany Mr. Chicoyne to Canada to supervise the business transactions of the new Company.

The French section of the Company was known as the Compagnie Nantaise; to a great extent, it supplied the necessary funds for the development projects of the Eastern Townships of Quebec. Mr. Adoiphe Bécigneul and Rev. Fr. Peigné were members of its administration. In Canada the Company was known as La Socióté de la Colonisation des Cantons de l’Est; among the board of directors were Mr. Eugene Bécigneul (our Grand-father’s brother) and Rev. Paul Peigné; they controlled the activities of the Company. At the time of incorporation of the Company the name was expanded to La Société de la Colonisation et de Credit des Cantons de l’Est; it was approved by the legislature of the province of Quebec, June 13th, 1881.

The Compagnie Nantaise had bought an immense tract of land in Mégantic on the lake’s shore and had built a large saw and flour mills. It had also established a general store nearby to provide for the employees needs. At Channay (formerly Woburn) the Company wished to build a modern cheese factory, on the Swiss model. Very expensive equipment and machinery were imported from Europe. The Compagnie Nantaise was responsible for bringing some dozen families from France to Canada.

There was no lack of enthusiasm. From the financial point of view, the Company gave very satisfactory results considering the short time it was in operation but the dividends paid to its investors decreased constantly. Funds continued to be channeled from France; $60,000. had already been forwarded through Rev. Peigné. Nevertheless, news from Canada was rather scarce and the French share holders began to worry. In 1883 the Compagnie Nantaise delegated Mr. Louis Bécigneul (our Grandfather) to investigate the Company’s operations. Having arrived in Mégantic at the end of July 1883, he was able to report, after the investigation, that the enterprises were being managed with ability and perfect honesty even though they were not paying the dividends that had been hoped for. In 1885, the French executives sent Mr. Adoiphe Bécigneul (Lucie’s father) to Mégantic to manage the Company ‘ s operations.

The businesses continued until 1890. Finally, the French share holders of the Compagnie Nantaise became very apprehensive; they decided to liquidate the interests of the Compagnie Nantaise. Mr. Adolphe Bécigneul carried out the transactions; of the $60,000. contributed by the French share holders only $12,000. was recovered by liquidating the assets.

The Bécigneul Brothers

Eugene: (our great—uncle)

Eugene came to Canada in 1881 with Mr. J.A. Chicoyne on his return from France. He was mainly occupied, at first, with the forestry operations in the colony of Channay and with the placement of the new colonists. He became the first post master of the village of Channay, which assumed its original name of Woburn in 1893. After the liquidation of the Compagnie Nantaise’s assets Eugene acquired the general store which had just been built near the railroad tracks (the present city hall).

In 1892 he sold his store and settled in Sandwich, Ontario where he became a wine merchant. He died in Sandwich in 1919.

Louis: (our grand—father)

Marie-Louis, was born January 10th, 1856 at Port-Rousseau, a town in Rezé in the suburb of Nantes. His father was Francois Adoiphe Bécigneul. Up until this time the Bécigneul family had been peasants and trades-men. But it was an historic time and Francois Adoiphe was well positioned to further his studies; he was able to rise socially when he became a notary. On the 6th of June 1853, he married Eugénie-Anne-Marie Kern whose father was a brewer and merchant. They had eight children: four boys and 4 girls. Louis was the second son, Adoiphe being the oldest. As an adolescent, he had decided to follow his father’s profession; when he finished his studies he became head secretary in his father’s office. In 1883, at the age of 27 he interrupted his work to go to Mégantic at the company’s request to investigate the operations of the Compagnie Nantaise.

On the 21st of July of that year, Louis boarded the steamer America at the Havre for New York; he arrived in Mégantic at the end of the same month. He spent two years in Mégantic, went to Channay, then bought a tract of land which extended from the actual village of Woburn (Channay) up to the U.S.-Canada boundary, where the present customs office now stands; he had this land cleared.

In 1886, the Canadian Pacific bought a piece of Louis’ property for a railroad yard; in 1893 the Quebec Central acquired a strip of land to build its railroad and a station.

Grand—father returned to France in 1885 where, on the 30th of September, he married, Marie—Marthe Cornet (1861—1944). In October of 1885 the newlyweds returned to Mégantic to live definitively; of several pregnancies, three children survived. Marie-Louise, Louis, and Paul; Marie-Louise never married. Louis married Lucille Robinet; they had nine children. Paul married Marie-Marthe Déziél; they had six children.

On his return to Canada, Louis intended to practice his profession of notary but during his absence, another notary had established his practice in the town; as a result Louis became a liquor merchant based in the company store while awaiting the construction of his house (1886). The house, beautiful and spacious for its day, had an annex that was to be his store.

From the very time of their arrival in Mégantic our grandparents loved the country; they became completely canadianized. Grand-pa took a very active part in religious, school and municipal affairs in Mégantic. For more than 40 years he was secretary of the Mégantic school board; he was also secretary for the school boards of towns and townships of Ditchfield and Spaulding.

In August of 1935 our grand-parents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. A solemn high mass was celebrated in the parish church; there was a family gathering and during the evening many citizens offered their congratulations.

Grand—father died May 18th, 1941 at the age of 84 years 5 months; grand-mother died September 8th, 1944 at the age of 83 years 5 months. Both are interred in the parish cemetery of St. Agnes, in Mégantic. A street near the cemetery was named BECIGNEUL in their honor

Adoiphe: (Lucie’s father)

Adolphe arrived in Mégantic in 1885. He was a lawyer but did not exercise his profession during the first few years. He was manager of the Compagnie Nantaise from 1885 to 1890. After liquidating the Company’s assets, he was able to exercise his profession.

Our great-uncle Adoiphe was a pleasant conversationalist, a man of outstanding politeness. In 1910 his family moved to Sandwich where it lived for a few years. It was during this time that the ethnic and religious struggle took place in Ontario; certain groups took exception to everything that was French and Catholic; Adolphe was an excellent orator and took up the defense of the French-Canadians; the latter, in the County of Essex, are greatly indebted to him.

He returned to Mégantic but became ill; in 1919 after suffering a stroke he came back to Sandwich where several of his children had settled; he died in this town in 1922.

Rev. Paul Peigné

The Rev. Paul Peigné was the great-uncle of our grandfather. He was the soul and financial backer of la Compagnie Nantaise. He was a Missionary of the Immaculate Conception and honorary canon of Nantes. In this village, he had founded an organization to assist the youth and to give a sense of worth to the working class, an organization which he directed in all its branches for 20 years.

In recognition of the services accomplished in the Sherbrooke diocese, Father Peigné was named Honorary Vicar General for life in that diocese.

He died November 23rd, 1903 at the age of 88 years.