Rosalie Dessaulles-Laframboise ❖
Daughter of Rosalie Cherrier and well-known politician Joseph Papineau, Rosalie was the only surviving daughter of this family of ten children. Her older brother was Louis-Joseph Papineau, who would later become the leader of the Patriotes. She was very close to him all her life.
Her father acquired the Seigneurie de La Petite-Nation in the Outaouais region. He brought the family there to live. It was a big change of scenery for Rosalie, who was used to the big city and the services and resources that were located there. Always positive, she took up vegetable gardening and writing. She was single well into her twenties, but eventually married Jean Dessaulles. They had three children, which, sadly, they lost at very young ages.
Dessaulles was also a politician. He was elected deputy of Richelieu the year he married Rosalie, so Rosalie was often left running their estate alone.
Rosalie helped develop the Dessaulles’ seigneury, which later became the city of Saint-Hyacinthe. Her great charity towards the sick and the poor was recognized. When necessary, she transformed her home into a place where medicines were prepared and given out to people. She even gave away her own clothes to help the needy. She was nicknamed “the Providence of the poor”. She founded the Comité des Dames de la Charité (Ladies of Charity) and was its first president.
On 20 June 1835, Rosalie lost her husband to illness. Their children were still young. Rosalie had to take charge of the seigneury until her eldest son reached the age of majority, which was twenty-five at the time.
She approved and supported her older brother, Louis-Joseph Papineau, in his efforts to obtain better conditions for French Canadians. However, she was very concerned for him and his family when things started to go wrong in 1836 ( at the start of the Lower Canada Rebellion). During the Rebellion, she did her best to support the rebels, either by providing them with food or by lodging them at the manor, even though she knew that the English authorities were suspicious.
Source: Translation from French texts at Wikipedia entry Rosalie Papineau-Dessaulles — Wikipédia with minor adaptations.
“On February 18, 1846, Rosalie Dessaulles married Maurice Laframboise (1821-1882), a lawyer in Saint-Hyacinthe. Mr. Laframboise was mayor of Saint-Hyacinthe from 1857 to 1860 and was also involved in politics like the Dessaulles, Papineau and Debartzch. Called to the bar in 1843, he was elected member of the House of Assembly of Lower Canada for Bagot County from 1858 to 1867, Minister of Public Works (1863-1864) under the McDonald-Dorion government, and then member of the provincial House for Shefford County from 1871 to 1878. He was appointed judge of the Superior Court for the district of Bonaventure-Gaspé in 1879. The couple had thirteen children, one of whom, Jules Laframboise, distinguished himself in Saint-Hyacinthe when he was director of the Casavant Frères organ factory. The Laframboise family lived in their magnificent manor house on Girouard Street in Saint-Hyacinthe, which was succeeded by the Patronage Saint-Vincent-de-Paul and the Patro buildings. The family left Saint-Hyacinthe in 1864 to settle in Montreal.”
Source: FONDS FAMILLE LAFRAMBOISE – Centre d’histoire de Saint-Hyacinthe