Читать книгу The Clan Fraser in Canada: Souvenir of the First Annual Gathering - Fraser Alexander - Страница 4

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 namesakes of this province; they are simply attempting to organize and with a benevolent object, to adopt temporarily the above resolutions the better to attain that end.

9. That the sister provinces of Ontario, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick be respectfully requested to organize themselves, and to send delegates to the meeting at Ottawa, on the fourteenth of May next, that time having been selected because in all probability the parliament will still be in session, and the members may attend the session before dispersing.

10. That all proceedings be respectfully submitted to the "Fraser" family, which is one of the most ancient, one of the most noble, one of the most influential, and one of the most numerous families of the Dominion of Canada.

11. That all the newspapers throughout the Dominion of Canada, who have subscribers of the name of Fraser, are requested to publish the proceedings of this meeting.

After which the meeting proceeded to the nomination of the following officers, who were unanimously elected:

I. To be the Chief of the Province of Quebec:

The Honorable John Fraser de Berry, Esquire, one of the members of the Legislative Council of the said Province, etc., being the fifty-eighth descendant of Jules de Berry, a rich and powerful lord (seigneur) who feasted sumptuously the Emperor Charlemagne, and his numerous suite, at his castle in Normandy, in the eighth century.

II. For the following electoral divisions:

Lauzon, – Thomas Fraser, Esquire, farmer, of Pointe Levis.

Kennebec, – Simon Fraser, Esquire, of St. Croix.

De la Durantaye, – Alexander Fraser, Esquire, farmer, of St. Vallier.

Les Laurentides, – William Fraser, Esquire, of Lake St. John, Chicoutimi.

Grandville, – Jean Etienne Fraser, Esquire, Notary.

Green Island Stadacona, – Alexander Fraser, Esquire, Notary, St. Roch, Quebec.

The meeting having voted thanks to the President and Secretary, then adjourned.

ALEX. FRASER,

President.

OMER FRASER,

Secretary.

There was a good response to the call for the general meeting, letters having been sent broadcast over the Dominion. As chief of the Frasers of British North America, the Hon. James Fraser de Ferraline, in the Province of Nova Scotia, was elected. He was a scion of the Ferraline and Gorthlic families of the Clan. One hundred and eleven subordinate chieftains of provinces and districts were elected and Mr. John Fraser de Berry was appointed Secretary to the "New Clan Fraser," as it was called. For various reasons, chief among them being, probably, its elaborate constitution and the intangible purposes for which it was called into existence, the organization did not make satisfactory headway and in the course of not many years it failed to attract any public attention whatever, and ceased to exist. In its brief career it gathered some interesting information about the clansmen. In a report drawn up by the Secretary, De Berry, whose exertions on its behalf were unwearying, it is stated that there were then over 12,000 persons, men, women and children of the name Fraser, some speaking French, not one of whom was a day laborer, or "earning daily wages," but all in comfortable circumstances, many in positions of honour and trust.