History of Pointe a la Croix/Cross Point, Prov. Quebec
In a committee room, chaired by Andrew Stuart, in Quebec City, 1823..
The swearing in of Edward Isaac Mann Esq. of Restigouche was taking place
and this question was asked of him..:
Did your Father and your family reside in any and if so which of the Old
British Colonies in North America and when did he leave the same and for
what cause ?
To which he answered:
My father and his family were natives of the State of New York: at the
breaking out of the American Revolutionary War he was Colonel of Militia
and held other appointments under the Crown. He was the first in the State
of New York who was brought before a Rebel Committee at Albany, and upon
declaring his sentiments, was sent as a prisoner into the State of
Connecticut, with a married brother of mine named John , kept 13 months
and then sent into Canada, under an act of banishment.
My brother John, was liberated at the end of six months and joined
Burgoyne's Army as a Lieutenant of a Provincial Corps shortly before it
surrendered. In the same Army, I had two other brothers, Thomas, a Captain
of Guides and Isaac, a Lieutenant in a Provincial Corps. My brother, William
and i did duty as volunteers in Sir John Johnson's First Battalion of the
Royal Regiment of New York.
In the Autumn of 1784 and Spring of 1785 my father, two married
brothers and I with their wives and families and with my two other unmarried
brothers, amounting altogether to about 18 persons, went to Chaleur Bay and
settled at New Carlisle. There was allowed to each head of family and
full-grown person of the family, 200 acres and to the females and minor
children 50 acres each at New Carlisle.
The Land Board was composed of Lieutenant-Governor, Mr Cox, Mr.
Charles Robin, Isaac Mann Jr. and one or two others. In 1786 and 1787,
location tickets were given. There were allowed from His Majesty, rations
to each man and his family for three years, plus other supplies and materials
farming utensils, everything necessary for building and clearing lands.
Edwards Isaac Mann Esq. made a claim for lands at Restigouche before
the Gaspe Land Commissioners in 1822. A lot of land on the North Side of
the Restigouche River bounded on the East by lot no.1 of the lands laid out
for Loyalists, on the North of River du Loup or Porcupine River, on the
South by the several courses of the Restigouch River, on the west by a line
running North 45 degrees west, from a point at the distance of two chains
west from the cross standing or which heretofore stood on the Point a la
Croix to the Mountain, thence along the base of the mountains to the line
of departure, containing about 2400 acres.
In 1787, Edward Isaac Mann, occupied the prairies just east of
Indian village even before receiving the concession which he demanded from
the government. In October 1787, Lieutenant Governor Cox ordered the
surveyor Vondervelden to measure a lot for Mr. Mann. After protests from
the Indians, the Commissioners of Gaspe awarded Mann the larger lot. The
Indians were opposed by Mann and Robert Ferguson, owner of the only saw and
grist-mill in the area (At Walker Brook). In 1826 the government confirmed
the decision in favor of Mann.. In 1824, Archdeacon G. J. Mountain of Quebec,
was a guest at the Mann's homestead. " A house painted red at one end, stood
without enclosure next the river, surrounded by barns and out buildings,
old and out of repair."
"Mr. Mann and his whole family speak the Micmac language with
fluency - his daughters however are allowed to excel both father and brother
in this accomplishment."
"Mr. Mann is a brother to the Sheriff of the District and has another
brother who was Judge of the Court of Common Pleas at Quebec."
Mr Mann made arrangements for the Archdeacon's journey from Ristigouche
to the St Lawrence, via the Restigouche and Matapedia Rivers. He sent two
Indian guides along with him. Mr Mann had submitted early plans to the
Governor at Quebec for a road (called Kempt Rd. which still exists today,
road used to travel to St Fidele)
During the early 1800's, the wave of immigration continued. The
Mann concession was partly divided into lots. The Mann property was sold by
the Sheriff and was bought by Robert Christie, after being occupied for a
while by colonel Crawford. From Mrs Christie it passed to John Fraser. To
consolidate his holding, Fraser got a permit from the government to build
a road where the present line runs.
Robert Christie Esq. son of James and Janet McIntosh , was
born at Windsor, Nova Scotia Jan. 20/1787. His father was a shoemaker.
Robert had two brothers, William and James and one sister Isabella.. Robert
graduated from KIng's or Royal College as it was often called. Robert moved
to Quebec and was there some years before the outbreak of the War of 1812.
Robert Christie married Mlle Olivette Doucet, daughter of an old
and respected French Canadian family.. He graduated in law and was admitted
to the Quebec Bar. He was in active service as a Captain, 4th Battalion on
the Canadian Frontier during the war of 1812-1814.
In 1819 he was secretary of the Gaspe Lands Claims Commission. We
find his signature on many land deeds and he became a Gaspesian landowner and
summer resident at Cross Point. He published in 1818 and 1820 many Memoirs
on the Administration of Lower Canada. He wrote a "History of the late
province of Lower Canada" in 6 volumes. In 1827 Robert Christie was elected
to represent the District of Gaspe in the Legislature Assembly seat he was
opposed by the members of the French Canadian majority and expelled from the
House on the grounds that he had, as Chairman of the Quarter Sessions of the
District of Quebec, advised the omission of the names of certain reformers
from the Commission of Peace. Between that time and 1834 he was re-elected
no less than five times by his loyal constituents of Gaspesia and again
expelled each time from the Assembly. Not until the elections of 1841,
following the union of Lower and Upper Canada did he succeed in taking his
seat in Parliament. From 1841 to 1854 he was a sitting member of Parliament.
The Christie home in Quebec was for many years on the square known
today as the Jardin des Gouverneurs, the location of the Wolfe - Montcalm
Monument overlooking the Dufferin Terrace, adjacent to the Chateau Frontenac.
Later Christie's family home was on the street that bears his name in the
City of Quebec. The tragic loss of Robert Andrew Christie, aged 28 years,
physician and only son of Robert and Olivette Doucet Crhistie at the
Quarantine Establishment at Gross Isle in July, 1837, was indeed a bitter
blow. In 1854 the long political career of Robert Christie ended when he
finally suffered defeat at the polls in the election of that year. The two
remaining years of his life were spent in the calm of private life. During
the summer season he returned to the Gaspe Coast, in his spacious home on
the banks of the Ristigouche River.
From "The Canadas in 1841", by Lt. Col. Sir R. Bonnycastle we read:
"Reached Point-a-la-Croix, where a place known as Mann's landing we were
receivedat Mr. Christie's house at one o'clock..Christie's is a very pretty
settlement: and he, as we are told, gave 1050L for it.. It consists of 1260
acres, 30 only being cultivated, with a good house and barns. The natural
meadow was, however, in such quantity, that it had yielded 350 tons of hay:
180 tons had been sold in that year to the lumberers, for their cattle, at
eight dollars, or two pounds currency a ton."
The 13 of October, 1856, aged 68, he died in Quebec and was buried
in Mount Hermon Cemetery, at Sillery.
John Fraser was a prominent man in the history of the Baie des
Chaleurs and Ristigouche District. Mr Fraser was born at Inverness, Stotland
and at an early age shought his fortune in the new country of New Brunswick.
He settled at Bathurst, where he engaged in general business. In 1837
he married Elizabeth, daughter of the late Robert Ferguson Esq. of Athol
House. In 1830 he received his appointment from Lloyds Head office, London
England, as their agent and adjuster of the Baie des Chaleurs and as such
salvaged and supervised the sale of the cargo "Colborne" wrecked at
Harrington Cove, in the Baie des Chaleurs in 1838. In 1843 Mr Fraser moved
to Cross Point and acquired the property of Robert Christie. He held many
public offices such as Clerk of the Circuit Court from 1844 to 1860. In
1846 he received from the Colonial Office, London, his appointment as Post
Master of Cross Point which office he held till 1893. He was appointed
Collector of Customs at New Carlisle in 1847 and Collector of Inland Revenue
in 1855, holding both offices till 1873. He was Mayor of the Township of
Mann from 1862 to 1893 and during the greater part of that time, served as
Warden of the County of Bonaventure as well as holding the office of Justice
of the Peace for many years in the District of Gaspe. He died at Cross Point
in Sept. 1893 at the advanced age of 94 years and was buried in the Athol
House Cemetery. Three sons and one daughter, Mrs John J. Jellett, survived
him..
The Fraser Estate passed into the hands of John J. Jellett, husband
to Fraser's only daughter. From John it went to his son, familiarly known as
Herby Jellett and remained in the family until 1956, when Ronald Alexander
acquired the property.