The Clan Fraser in Canada: Souvenir of the First Annual Gathering. Fraser Alexander
seeing that the meeting was inevitable, that the sturdy sons of Caledonia, in Levis' heroic Grenadiers, did find a foe worthy of their steel. Scotchmen, on the field of Ste. Foye, in deadly encounter with France's impetuous warriors, doubtless acknowledged that the latter were not unworthy descendants of those whom they had helped to rout England's soldiery on the fields of Brangé, Crevant and Verneuil."
At the close of the war many of the officers and men settled in the Provinces of Quebec and Nova Scotia, having obtained their discharge and grants of land in the New World. It was not long ago computed that the descendants of these Highlanders in the Province of Quebec numbered 3,000, but merged in the French-Canadian peasantry to such an extent that even the names have lost their original form. In Nova Scotia the name Fraser flourishes in every township of every county. There have been many accessions to the Clan since the days of the Seventy-Eighth and the Battle of the Plains, but at least four-fifths of those bearing the Clan name in Canada to-day, trace their descent from the victorious clansmen of Cape Breton and Quebec.
On the outbreak of the American War the Royal Highland Emigrants were embodied, and in that regiment, commanded by the gallant Lieut. – Colonel Allan MacLean (son of Torloisk), 300 men who had belonged to Fraser's regiment enlisted. In the interval between the cession of Canada and the American War, the Lovat estates were restored to the Master of Lovat, for his eminent services (the title was kept in abeyance), and he was asked to raise a regiment, the Seventy-First, of two battalions. This he speedily accomplished and soon found himself at the head of a double regiment numbering 2,340 officers and men. They behaved with the highest distinction throughout the war and earned flattering encomiums from the commanding officers. General Stewart, than whom no more competent authority has written of Highland regiments, and but few who have understood Highland character better, whose Sketches have furnished facts to all subsequent writers on the subject, speaks of the Seventy-First, Fraser's Highlanders, thus: "Their moral conduct was in every way equal to their military character. Disgraceful punishments were unknown. Among men religious, brave, moral and humane, disgraceful punishments are unnecessary. Such being the acknowledged general character of these men, their loyalty was put to the test and proved to be genuine. When prisoners, and solicited by the Americans to join their standard and settle among them, not one individual violated the oath he had taken, or forgot his fidelity or allegiance, a virtue not generally observed on that occasion, for many soldiers of other corps joined the Americans, and sometimes, indeed, entered their service in a body." The Seventy-First did not leave many behind as settlers, and the reference to it here is only permissible as illustrating the high character of the Clan, of which the Seventy-Eighth, which left its quota of settlers behind, formed an important part. General Simon Fraser's intimate connection with Canada, as commanding officer of Fraser's Highlanders (1757), and in other interesting respects, may suffice as a reason why a good anecdote of him may be here related. When the Seventy-First mustered at Glasgow, Lochiel was absent, being ill at London. His absence had not, evidently, been explained to his company, for they demurred to embark without their chief; they feared some misfortune had befallen him. General Fraser had a command of eloquent speech and he succeeded in persuading them to embark with their comrades. It is related that while he was speaking in Gaelic to the men, an old Highlander, who had accompanied his son to Glasgow, was leaning on his staff gazing at the General with great earnestness. When he had finished, the old man walked up to him and, with that easy familiar intercourse, which in those days subsisted between the Highlanders and their superiors, shook him by the hand, exclaiming "Simon, you are a good soldier, and speak like a man; so long as you live, Simon of Lovat will never die;" alluding to the General's address and manner, which was said to resemble much that of his father, Lord Lovat, whom the old Highlanders knew perfectly.
The De Berry Organization
We have now seen the origin of the Frasers in Canada; they came in war, but the swords were readily turned into ploughshares, and the arts of peace cultivated with a constancy and success that equalled their intrepidity and valor on the battlefield. Years rolled on, the Clan multiplied and prospered, and, in the course of time, a project was entered upon for the formation of a new Clan Fraser on Canadian soil. The leading spirit of the movement was the Hon. John Fraser de Berry, a member for the Legislative Council of the Province of Quebec. A meeting of Frasers was held in response to the following public advertisement:
FRASER CLAN
The Frasers of the Province of Quebec are respectfully requested to meet at the office of Messrs. Thomas Fraser & Co., at the Lower Town, Quebec, on Saturday, the twenty-fifth day of January, 1868, at ten o'clock a. m., to take into consideration the advisability of organizing the "Clan" for the Dominion of Canada.
At this meeting preliminary steps were taken to further the object in view, and another meeting was held on February 8th, 1868, of which the following report has been taken from the Quebec Mercury:
At a meeting of the "Frasers" of the Province of Quebec, held at Mrs. Brown's City Hotel, on the 8th February, 1868, Alexander Fraser, Esq., notary, ex-Member for the County of Kamouraska, now resident in Quebec, in the chair; Mr. Omer Fraser, of St. Croix, acting as Secretary.
1. It was unanimously resolved:
That it is desirable that the family of "Frasers" do organize themselves into a clan with a purely and benevolent social object, and, with that view, they do now proceed to such organization by recommending the choice of
A Chief for the Dominion of Canada;
A Chief for each province;
A Chief for each electoral division;
A Chief for each county;
A Chief for each locality and township.
2. That the Chief of the Dominion of Canada be named "The Fraser," and that he be chosen at a general meeting of the Frasers of all the provinces; the said meeting to be held on the second Thursday in the month of May next, at ten o'clock in the forenoon, in such place in the City of Ottawa as will then be designated.
3. That it is desirable that the Chief of the Province of Quebec and the Chiefs of the electoral divisions represented at said meeting be chosen forthwith; and that the Chief elected for this province be authorized and empowered to name the Chiefs for such divisions as are not represented at present, the said selection shall, however, be subject to the approbation of the Frasers of the division interested, who will make the same known at a meeting to be called without delay, by the Chief of the Province of Quebec, with the view to proceed to the nomination of the Chiefs of counties comprehended in the said division.
4. That Chiefs of counties be obliged to convene also without delay, a meeting by which shall be chosen all the Chiefs of parishes or townships.
5. That it shall be the duty of the Chief chosen for a parish or township to report to the Chief of his county as early as possible, the number of Frasers residing in his parish or township; and of the Chief of the county in his town, to report to the Chief of his electoral division, who will transmit it, together with his own report, to the Chief of his province; the said report to contain the number of Frasers in his division, in order that the force of the Clan in each province may be ascertained on the 14th of May next, at the meeting at Ottawa.
6. That it is advisable that the meeting at Ottawa, representing all the Clan, be composed of all its divers Chiefs from the Chiefs of provinces, even to the Chiefs of parishes or townships inclusively, and any other Frasers who may desire to attend at the same.
7. That the above resolutions and the nominations, which are to take place this day, or which may be made hereafter by the Chief of the province, shall be considered as preliminary and temporary, as they are made with the sole object of organizing the Clan, and not to bind in any manner whatever the Frasers, who will be at perfect liberty to reorganize themselves completely anew at the Ottawa meeting.
8. That the Clan shall not be considered to exist until and after the next anniversary or Dominion Day, the first of July next, under such rules and regulations as will be adopted at the meeting at Ottawa; the Frasers of this meeting protest energetically against any intention, which might be attributed to them, of dictating their will to their