Three Houses, One Family: the Méthots

THREE HOUSES, ONE FAMILY

It is the MÉTHOT family!

A few genealogical notes, judiciously assembled, are enough to weave the connections that become the backdrop on which the road followed by a family over generations is traced.

So it is with the MÉTHOT family. According to Robert Prévost’s article published in La Presse of Montréal on 24 December 1994, Prévost mentions the marriage of 6 July 1673, of Abraham Méthot, before the notary Gilles Rageot, to Marie-Madeleine Mezeray, daughter of René and of Nicole Gareman. The Méthot family is said to have come from south of Rouen, not far from Corneville, and therefore to be of Norman origin. This family settled at Lauzon at the end of the 17th century, then moved up the river toward Saint-Nicolas. A son of the same name, Abraham, raised his whole family at Sainte-Foy. Another went back downstream and chose Cap Saint-Ignace.

A century later, three Méthot brothers were born at Pointe-aux-Trembles (Neuville) to Joseph Méthot and Josephte Gouin. One of them was Louis Méthot (the Honourable), who became member for Lotbinière from 1830 to 1838, then legislative councillor from 1848 until his death at Sainte-Croix on 16 October 1859.

FRANÇOIS-XAVIER MÉTHOT, married to Dorothée Méasam, founder of the firm Chinic & Méthot, operated a cut-nail factory (Ventadour). An alderman of Québec in 1842, he was elected member for the city of Québec in the House of Assembly. He died on 6 November 1853, leaving a handsome fortune to his children, and one of the first commercial houses of Québec.

As for ANTOINE-PROSPER Méthot, he was admitted to the profession of notary on 16 March 1829, and settled at Saint-Pierre-les-Becquets, where he married Émélie Rousseau, daughter of Joseph and Josephte Trudel. Their daughter Clara Marie F.X.A. Ovide Méthot; another married Doctor Damase-Eusèbe Archambault. In 1860, Antoine-Prosper Méthot had built, for his daughter and Dr. D.E. Archambault, the vast Québec brick house that would be occupied by three generations of Archambaults… (Damase E., his son Urgel, and J. Olivier Archambault). As for A.P. Méthot, his residence stood not far from that of his daughter Clara, and is now lived in by Gilles Mailhot. The house has kept all its air of discreet aristocracy.

FRANÇOIS-XAVIER-O. ALFRED Méthot, son of F.X.O. Méthot and Dorothée Méasam, also came to settle at Saint-Pierre-les-Becquets, where he bought the MANOIR BABY, which became the Manoir MÉTHOT, on 28 November 1864. F.X.O. Alfred Méthot married first, at Saint-Pierre-les-Becquets on 31 May 1864, Marie-Clara Méthot, daughter of Antoine-Prosper Méthot & Émilie Rousseau, and second, on 2 May 1885, at Québec, Marie-Clara Louise Ernestine Paradis, daughter of Joseph-Ovide Paradis, merchant, and of Louise Chamard.

F.X.O. Alfred Méthot studied at the Séminaire de Québec. A farmer, president of the Union company, militia captain, mayor of Saint-Pierre-les-Becquets from 1868 to 1872, elected Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly for Nicolet in 1871, then independent Conservative member of the House of Commons. Re-elected in 1878… He was the second member elected (1871-1876) for Nicolet after Confederation.

One reads in the Histoire de Nicolet (p. 295), written by Abbé E. Bellemare, that F.X.O. Méthot, during his term as a member of the House of Commons of Canada, obtained the construction of the harbour at Port Saint-François, built around 1880 at government expense by Mr. Théophile Saint-Laurent of Nicolet. The harbour was inaugurated in 1882 at a celebration remembered for the patriotic speeches delivered there. Curé P.H. Suzor gave the blessing in the presence of member Méthot, Geo. Ball, and others. This was a few years before the founding of the diocese of Nicolet (1885), whose first bishop was Bishop Elphège Gravel.

When the Honourable F.X.O. Alfred Méthot had won his elections, he kept open table at the manor for three days… A small man of quick step, affable, he lived at ease among his own. It was in his manor that he died on 20 October 1908, at the age of 65. It was Doctor D.E. Archambault who sent out the notices announcing the funeral.

F.X.O. Méthot was a cousin of Judge H.G. Mailhot. As can be seen, these three houses, almost adjoining one another, sheltered families all related to each other in a tightly woven social fabric, as was the case for many other families …

YOLANDE ALLAIRE-ROUX