Biographies contemporaines
Nazaire Levasseur (1848-1927)
LE VASSEUR, NAZAIRE (baptized Louis-Nazaire-Zéphirin), journalist,
office holder, soldier, musician, and writer; b. 6 Feb. 1848 at Quebec,
son of Zéphirin Levasseur and Madeleine Langevin; m. there 5 June 1872
Phédora Venner, and they had four children, including Irma*, the first
French Canadian woman physician in the province of Quebec; d. 8 Nov.
1927 at Quebec.
Nazaire Le Vasseur grew up in a business world in which, as he would
later recall in his Réminiscences d’antan, hospitality was “open-ended
and bountiful” and cultivation of the arts was encouraged. His father,
who was at that time manager of a shipyard, was an amateur musician,
and the family home was “a meeting place for intellectuals” where many
leading figures of the day gathered. They included merchant Abraham
Hamel, brother of painter Théophile Hamel*, the family of notary
Louis-Édouard Glackmeyer*, pianist Charles Sabatier [Wugk*], and French
composer and organist Marie-Hippolyte-Antoine Dessane*. The eldest of
three children, Le Vasseur began to take music lessons with Dessane by
the time he was five, and over the years he would study piano, cello,
violin, flute, and organ.
After completing classical studies undertaken at the Petit Séminaire de
Québec from 1857 to 1866, Le Vasseur enrolled in the faculty of
medicine at the Université Laval, but after three years, as he himself
indicated, his family’s financial difficulties obliged him to withdraw
(although his name is not on the list of students enrolled for
1868–69). He then joined the staff of L’Événement, a newspaper recently
founded by Hector Fabre*, on which he worked in succession as chief
reporter, assistant editor, and finally editor until 1878. As a
journalist, he came in contact with many leading political figures, to
whom he gave advice or support in electoral campaigns, as he did for
Wilfrid Laurier* in 1877. Le Vasseur’s marriage in 1872 to the daughter
of a banker had confirmed his social success.
On 2 Oct. 1878 Le Vasseur became a gas and gas meter inspector for the
federal government, a position he was to hold until 1915. At the same
time he maintained his interest in journalism. In April 1883 he founded
an evening newspaper, La Presse, but publication ceased after the first
issue because of inadequate funding. Eleven years later, he and Émile
La Salle launched La Revue commerciale, a paper quickly replaced in
August 1894 by La Semaine commerciale, in which Le Vasseur would
continue to publish articles until 1904. He was also a regular
contributor to L’Événement. Despite all these activities, he found time
to enlist as a militiaman in the 9th Battalion Volunteer Militia
Rifles; he took part in the 1885 North-West expedition against Louis
Riel*’s Métis, which earned him promotion to the rank of major on his
return. Between 1898 and 1913 he was the consul in Quebec for several
Central and South American countries, including Nicaragua, Guatemala,
Brazil, and Chile.
In 1877 Le Vasseur had been one of the founding members of the
Geographical Society of Quebec. Known for his “insatiable intellectual
curiosity,” as the Bulletin of the society put it, he published nearly
50 articles between 1883 and 1921 on topics as diverse as Lake
Winnipeg, the Mackenzie River basin, Halley’s comet, and Russia. He
served as the society’s assistant recording secretary in 1880 and
subsequently as vice-president in 1889, honorary president in 1896 (“in
recognition of services rendered to the society”), and president from
1898 to 1905. By 1895 he was closely connected with Captain
Joseph-Elzéar Bernier*; through the Geographical Society and by
organizing fund-raising campaigns, he would help Bernier carry out his
expeditions to the North Pole between 1904 and 1911. In 1893 Le Vasseur
was also one of the founding members of the Cercle des Dix, a Quebec
society which included writers, musicians, and journalists such as
Napoléon Legendre*, Narcisse-Henri-Édouard Faucher* de Saint-Maurice,
and James MacPherson Le Moine*.
Le Vasseur also took part in the musical life of Quebec. He succeeded
his teacher Dessane as organist of Saint-Roch, from 1873 to 1881;
together, they had founded the Société Musicale Sainte-Cécile of the
church of Saint-Roch in 1869. As conductor of this choir from 1873 to
1885, Le Vasseur performed masses by Haydn, Rossini, and Gounod, as
well as Félicien David’s opera La perle du Brésil; Le Vasseur’s wife,
who was a singer, was a soloist in some of these concerts. He was
secretary of the Quebec Harmonic Society in 1870, and the following
year he was co-founder and violinist of the Septuor Haydn, which in
1903 formed the nucleus of the Société Symphonique de Québec (the
future Quebec Symphony Orchestra) [see Joseph Vézina]; Le Vasseur
played the double bass in this new orchestra between 1903 and 1907.
When he died, his fellow musicians, at one of their meetings, would
lament the passing of a “pioneer worker who has contributed so much to
the success of the society.” In 1880 he succeeded Calixa Lavallée* as
director of a choir known as the Quatuor Vocal de Québec and in the
same year he was secretary of the organizing committee for the
Saint-Jean-Baptiste celebrations in Quebec, during which “O Canada” was
given its first performance. In 1887 Le Vasseur was named a member of
the Académie de Musique de Québec, which aimed principally to foster
interest in music and better regulate musical education; he thus made a
mark in the leading musical organizations of the province of Québec.
Despite badly failing eyesight from 1908, Le Vasseur – “with two pairs
of glasses on his nose,” as Edmond Chassé, news editor of L’Événement,
noted – continued to write for the Bulletin of the Geographical Society
of Quebec. He had been thinking since 1881 of undertaking a history of
music in Quebec; between 1919 and 1922 this project took form in a
series of some 40 articles published in the journal La Musique.
Although they contain a number of gaps and errors, as musicologist
Vivianne Émond has pointed out, these essays, which were enlivened by
personal reminiscences, served for many years as a primary reference
source for historians of music in Quebec, particularly with regard to
the 19th century. In 1925 Le Vasseur wrote the biography of his friend
Ferdinand-Philéas Canac-Marquis, in which, however, anecdotes about the
surgeon’s life and his travels figure more prominently than his
contributions to science. Two other books, Têtes et figures and
Réminiscences d’antan, published in 1920 and 1926 respectively, show
that Le Vasseur had a fine sense of style and a gift for storytelling;
in the case of Têtes et figures, vivid imagination and knowledge of
French Canadian customs are skilfully blended.
Nazaire Le Vasseur died in an unpretentious boarding house in old
Quebec. His funeral, held with due solemnity in the basilica of
Notre-Dame, was attended by many dignitaries, magistrates, soldiers,
and musicians, marking the prestige and influence enjoyed by this
passionate and sympathetic scholar. For almost half a century, he had
been omnipresent in the cultural, social, and political life of Quebec.
A man of wide culture and great intellectual curiosity, a gifted
writer, he served on many a committee, founded or co-founded numerous
associations, and built up a network of friends who shared his tastes
and passions. Having lived since childhood in an artistic milieu, he
remained active as a musician throughout his life. Although an amateur,
through his activities as a performer, historian, and journalist, he
helped lay the foundations of musical life in Quebec City, a
contribution for which posterity can be grateful.
Irène Brisson
Source : Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
Irma Levasseur (1878-1964)
Pediatrician and co-founder of Sainte-Justine's Children's Hospital in Montreal
Who was Dr. Irma LeVasseur? Little has been written about this woman, who changed the history of medicine in Quebec. Born to a family of artists in Quebec City in 1878, her mother (Fedora Venner) was a professional singer and her father (Louis-Nazaire LeVasseur) a writer and journalist.
LeVasseur was educated in the manner of all young girls at the time. There is nothing to indicate that she was encouraged or discouraged from taking up her chosen profession, simply that when her basic studies ended, young Irma was faced with a choice, and she decided to pursue a career in medicine. At the time, no Canadian university accepted women in medicine; to continue her studies, she was forced to move to the United States.
LeVasseur studied in Minnesota for about six years, where she became a Doctor of Medicine. Returning to Quebec in 1900, she would wait three for the right to practise her profession. In April 1903, a private bill finally granted her admittance to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of the Province of Quebec and the right to practise medicine. In the meantime, she worked as a doctor in the United States.
Upon returning to her native Quebec, LeVasseur was touched and saddened by the lack of care given to sick children. This prompted her to travel to Europe in order to learn more about early childhood diseases. In 1908, after her time abroad, she met Madame De Gaspé-Beaubien. Together they founded Hôpital Saint-Justine, where she applied her new knowledge of pediatrics. In 1915, she responded to a request for help from Canadian physicians and travelled to Serbia, where she devoted two years of her life, combating fatigue, bombings and disease.
Nothing could stop this pioneer of Quebec medicine: in 1918, LeVasseur worked in New York for the Red Cross; in 1922, back in Quebec, she invested her savings to help found the Hôpital de l'Enfant-Jésus; and in 1927, dissatisfied with the hospital's administration, she left and opened her own clinic for handicapped children in the faubourg of Saint-Jean-Baptiste. She also opened a school for the young disabled, which later became École Cardinal-Villeneuve.
In addition to her passion for medicine, LeVasseur was a talented painter and among the first to attend classes at the École des Beaux-Arts when it opened in 1920.
But all of this was achieved in obscurity. It was 1950 before LeVasseur's accomplishments, courage and perseverance were celebrated -- by the Cercle des femmes universitaires at her golden jubilee.
Dr. Irma LeVasseur died in January 1964, without the praise and acknowledgement of the press or her peers. She spent her last days alone in poverty, a sad end for a pioneer who sacrificed everything for her province and country, as well as for children. All her life she fought for her dream: to help others and to practise the profession she loved. We undoubtedly owe women's access to Quebec medical schools and the existence of the pediatric hospitals to Dr. LeVasseur.
Source : http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/women/002026-408-e.html
Other Reference:
Radio-Canada produced an interesting program on Irma Levasseur in the series "De remarquables oubliés” (Remarkable forgotten persons)." We invite you to consult this site, which is available in French only at this address:
http://www.radio-canada.ca/radio/profondeur/RemarquablesOublies/LeVasseur.htm
You will also find, in audio format, the story of Irma Levasseur. Click here to access this audio file.
We invite you to see the following site of Mrs. Pauline Gill, author of to historical novels on Irma Levasseur.(www.paulinegill.com)
Aimé Levasseur (1850-1906)
Aimé Levasseur was born on December 27th 1850 in the parish of Bécancour, more exactly in what later became, in 1868, the parish of Sainte-Angèle-de-Laval. A descendant of Pierre (1st generation) and Denis-Joseph (3rd generation), he was the son of Joseph Levasseur (6th generation) and Marie-Anne Rheault. He had an eventful youth: he joined the military to fight Canada’s invaders (the Fenians), and later against the invaders of the « Pontificaux » States (the Piémontais). He spent the rest of his life more peacefully, living as a farmer in Saint-Maurice, among family and friends.
The soldier
At the age of 19, Aimé joined the militia responsible for putting an end to the Fenian incursion in the south of Canada. The Fenians where part of a society founded in the United-States in 1858, which sought to obtain Ireland’s independence. Canada still being an English colony, it was a target of choice. In 1870, just as in 1865 and 1866, Fenians executed raids in the southern part of Canada, from the United-States. Aimé Levasseur joined the militia that was charged with putting an end to those raids. He was part of the Bécancour’s Infantry Compagnie, which was linked to the 3rd temporary battalion of St-Hyacinthe. He was stationed in St-Jean and in Montreal from April 13th to the June 1st 1870. For his participation in the defence of Canada, Aimé received the « Médaille du service général au Canada : Fenian Raid 1870 ». This medal, which bared the portrait of queen Victoria, was the first war medal to be awarded by Canada and it was only authorised in 1899. Le Canadien Federation came to be on July 4th 1867. Aimé Levasseur contributed to the defense of Canada in 1870.
The same year, Aimé enlisted in the « Zouaves pontificaux » regiment (a special militia to defend the Pope) to defend the « pontificaux » States. He was part of the 7th and last detail to leave Montreal on September 1st 1870, in bound for Brest, in France, and scheduled to arrive on September 12th. This detail will remain held up in Brest because of the war that declared itself between France and Prussia.
The « pontificale » army was made up of just over 13 000 men, that is, approximately 6 500 Italians and 6 500 foreign catholic volunteers. The Zouaves regiments, coming mainly from Holland, France, Belgium and Canada, represented close to 3 000 of those volunteers. 509 where Canadian Zouaves, of which 114 where stuck in Brest. The « piémontaise » army was attacking the « pontifical » army with 100 000 men. Faced with those superior numbers, the « pontificale » army was forced to retreat back to Rome where, protected by the walls, she resisted for a few days. After this symbolic resistance, pope Pie IX ordered the surrender. It was September 20th 1870.
At that time, Aimé Levasseur was waiting at Lesnever, near Brest, with 113 other Zouaves from his detachment. Among them was also Ov. P. Levasseur of St-Aimé, near Sorel (Aimé and Ov. P. Levasseur where the only two « Levasseurs » among the « Zouaves pontificaux », and they where in the same detachment). On september 23rd, they left Lesneven to board a ship in Brest, in bound for New-York. Therefore, they came back to Canada without ever being in a battle, without seeing the pope or Rome. Aimé received the « Bene Merenti » medal from pope Léon XIII in 1891: it was given to 300 canadian Zouaves, during a solemn ceremony organized on his Tourouvre estate by prime minister Honoré Mercier. Aimé Levasseur wanted to defend Rome and the « Pontificaux » States. Rome becomes the capital of the Italian Kingdom on October 2nd 1870.
The farmer
In the years that followed, Aimé first worked in Ste-Angèle-de-Laval as a farmer with his father, Joseph, and his two brothers, Joseph-Alfred and Napoléon. Later on, he wanted to own a farm. Since free land on the borders of the Saint-Lawrence river was getting scarce, he turned to Saint-Maurice, in the region of Champlain, , in the Champlain region, 20 kilometers north-east of Trois-Rivières. The colonization of the northern portion of the Cap-de-la-Madeleine seigniory had started in 1831. This territory became the parish of Saint-Maurice in 1837. When Aimé decided to go there in the middle of the 1970’s, Saint-Maurice was then one of the most populated parishes of the Trois-Rivières diocese, with 3 000 inhabitants. It covered an area from the Saint-Maurice river (hence it’s name) to many kilometers east of the Champlain river. In 1903, the west part of Saint-Maurice was removed and became the parish of Saint-Louis-de-France, a city that numbers close to 8 000 inhabitants nowadays and which has recently been merged with the new city of Trois-Rivières.
Aimé had many family members in Saint-Maurice, several of which where cousins. In 1870, his father, Joseph, bought a piece of land with a house and buildings. Aimé’s oldest brother, Joseph-Alfred, married at Saint-Maurice in 1873, inherited the land. It’s quite possible that Aimé went to help his bother when he met Clarisse, brother’s wife sister.
In 1875, Aimé, at the age of 25 and experienced with farm work, decided that he was ready to get married and start a family. He married Clarisse Levasseur, daughter of Louis-Étienne Levasseur and Appoline Gauthier. He was going on 25 and she was going on 19. Louis-Étienne, who had only daughters and was 70 years old, gave the new spouse, in exchange of a life annuity, his house and his land in row St-Jean. The house, which stands to this day (civic number 2201), is located on the way out of Saint-Maurice, when heading towards St-Louis-de-France.
Aimé Levasseur got married in Saint-Maurice on October 12th 1875.
From 1875 to 1906, for the 31 years that followed his eventful youth, Aimé Levasseur knew the peaceful life of a Saint-Maurice farmer. His wife Clarisse, who was a proud woman with good aesthetic sense, decorated the house with quality furniture that made it a nice place to live. They had six children : Alexandrine, married to Louis Bailly, Damien, married to Bernadette St-Hilaire, Jean-Baptiste et Félix, unmarried, Thomas, married to Alma Côté, and Pierre, married to Léda Rivard. During this period, Aimé was also involved with his community of Saint-Maurice: he was chosen as municipal advisor from 1887 to 1889 and was president of the school board from 1900 to 1902.
Aimé and Clarisse Levasseur: 25 Years of Wedding Anniversary in 1900
Aimé died suddenly on April 12th 1906, at the age of 55. Since most of his children where still studying and none of them where prepared to take over and become farmers, his wife Clarisse decided to sell the land, the house, the buildings and move to Trois-Rivières, where it would be easier for her to give her children a chance to pursue there studies. It might seem strange, for the times, that none of the five brothers took over the farm, but we have to point out that four of them hadn’t reached the age of 20 and that Aimé and Clarisse’s families had a lot of regard for schooling.
Therefore, there was a shift from school to college and from farm life to city life. The Levasseurs from the three first generations had been « carpenters » in the cities of Québec and Trois-Rivières, those from the 4th and 7th generations had been farmers in Bécancour and Saint-Maurice, and those from the following generations went back into the city to practice various trades and professions.
In retrospect, more than a century later, we are in a position to more easily measure the major political stakes which confronted Aimé in his youth. Was it urgent to arm yourself to defend the southern border of Canada? Was the Canadian Federation the best form of government? Did the Church need the « pontificaux » States? Was it necessary to defend them with arms? One thing’s for sure, that is, just like many catholic Canadians of those times, Aimé felt strongly about his homeland and his religion, and he was ready to defend them at the cost of his life.
In his youth, Aimé had admired Georges-Étienne Cartier, who had passed the law on voluntary militia, in 1868. He had greeted Macdonald and Cartier’s project for unifying Canada from coast to coast, while leaving a certain freedom to the provinces. Toward the end of his life, he turned to Wilfrid Laurier, whom he saw as a man of vision, capable of launching Canada into the XXth century.
Aimé had appreciated the discipline and solidarity of the military life. In his political life, he manifested the same spirit of service and tried to promote solidarity in the municipality of Saint-Maurice. His premature death most likely prevented him from fulfilling all of his dreams, but his memory continues to inspire his descendants.
Jean-Marie Levasseur (33)
René Levasseur (1933-1968)
The Island Rene Levasseur emerges out of the Manicouagan reservoir some 200 Km (120 miles) north of Baie-Comeau. It is a circular mass of lands some 2020 km2 and 80-km in diameter. This island in the back woods of the Northern Shore is considered as the second largest in importance within a lake. It was created in 1968 following the inauguration of the Daniel Johnson dam and it encloses two large bodies of water, the Du Chaunoy and the Observation lakes. The mount Babel culminates at the left of the Island and is 950 meters in height. This site commemorates the memory of Rene Levasseur, engineer and director of Manic-Cinq. Unfortunately Rene passed away at the age of 35, a few days before the official opening of the Daniel Johnson Dam.
Following brilliant scholarly achievements at l'Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal, he was hired by Hydro Quebec and supervised the completion of the hydro electrical dam in Carillon. In 1962 he was sent to mange Manic-5 that became The barrage Daniel-Johnson. In 1964 he became the chief engineer of the project and in 1965 the Director. Ironically, Daniel Johnson, then premier if Quebec passed away shortly after Rene Levasseur at the site where they were both selected to officially inaugurate the new dam.