1

The home of José Roy, known as Desjardins, in front of the Rankin-Campbell Manor
Around 1900
Saint-Germain de Kamouraska (Québec), Canada

Credits:
The Collection of the Musée régional de Kamouraska
Photographer: Unknown
N.A.C. P1999.644

2

Charles-Alfred Roy, known as Desjardins, is born into a family living in a hamlet, which has a window on the world thanks to the many navigators living there. The small community of Pointe-Sèche (Dry Point) will welcome the first member of this family around 1770. It is at this time that Ignace Roy, known as Desjardins, then about 30 years of age, leaves his ancestral property of Kamouraska to clear land bought from the Michaud family in the sector known as Pointe-Sèche. He and his wife, Marie-Reine Chouinard, will have seven children. Their oldest son, Joseph-Marie will eventually take over the family property where he will die in 1863, at the age of 99.

Joseph-Marie marries Marie-Reine Chouinard from Kamouraska on February 10, 1792. They have a family of five boys and four girls. The two older boys, (Joseph-Marie, known as José to distinguish him from his father, and Ignace) will contribute greatly to the period of prosperity that Pointe-Sèche enjoys between 1830 and 1865, Ignace because of his business skills and José thanks to his seafaring activities.

3

The Don-de-Dieu
1910-1928
Kamouraska (Québec), Canada

Credits:
The Collection of the Musée régional de Kamouraska
Photographer: Unknown
N.A.C. P1977.3757

4

Since his property is too limited to support his family, José soon becomes a navigator. He contributes to the prosperity of the little community both through his contacts and through his experience at sea. He secures naval construction contracts and suggests various improvements to ships being built. In addition, he takes many members of his family to sea.

5

Cruise on the Saguenay
11 August 1917
Saguenay River (Québec), Canada

Credits:
The Collection of the Musée régional de Kamouraska
The René Chaloult Family Private Collection
Photographer: Unknown
N.A.C. P1977.3652

6

The Roadstead of Pointe-Sèche
1900-1920
Saint-Germain de Kamouraska (Québec), Canada

Credits:
The Collection of the Musée régional de Kamouraska
The Desjardins Family Private Collection
Photographer: Éva Roy, known as Desjardins
N.A.C. P2005.186

7

Ignace has a wharf about a hundred feet long built, and on the shore, just in front of the wharf, he has a warehouse built for merchandise. For the most part, it is used to store the tools needed to build schooners and larger cargo vessels. Boat building is all done by hand, from cutting the wood in the surrounding forests (mostly pine and spruce), to the final finishing touches to ships of elegant design. The biggest ship built there, the Amélia, which displaced 117 tons, is mainly the work of David, Charles-Alfred's brother.

8

Photograph of the model of the Amélia
1867-1874
Unknown

Credits:
The Hélène Fillion Martin Collection
Photographer: Sylvia Fillion

9

The naval shipyard of Pointe-Sèche owes its existence mainly to the entrepreneurial skills of Ignace Desjardins, Charles-Alfred's uncle. Two years younger than José, Ignace will demonstrate ingenuity in order to get as much as he can out of his small piece of land. A navigator like his brother, he spends the winter season making butter tubs in his warehouse at the end of the wharf, using white spruce bound by white ash. These tubs are so popular that he cannot keep up with the demand. Most of them go to Québec, transported on his own schooners.

10

David Roy, known as Desjardins
1900-1920
Saint-André de Kamouraska (Québec), Canada

Credits:
The Hélène Fillion Martin Collection
Photographer: Éva Roy, known as Desjardins
The Collection of the Musée régional de Kamouraska

11

Charcoal portrait of Rose Ouellet, the mother of Charles-Alfred Roy, known as Desjardins
1835-1850
Saint-Germain de Kamouraska (Québec), Canada

Credits:
The Collection of the Musée régional de Kamouraska
The Desjardins Family Private Collection
Artist: Unknown
N.A.C. P2005.81

12

José marries Adélaïde Beaulieu in the church of Saint-André de Kamouraska on June 5, 1820. They have five children: Joseph, David, Thomas, Adélaïde and Zoé. After the death of his wife, José remarries on August 4, 1840, wedding Marie-Rose Ouellet in the church of Saint-Pascal de Kamouraska. Nine children are born of this second marriage: Jules, Charles-Alfred, Georges, Didier, Praxède, Émilie, Joséphine, Ernestine and Élise. Surrounded by his numerous siblings and also by many cousins, Charles-Alfred grows up in Pointe-Sèche, which has become a small hamlet of some 25 to 40 homes.

13

Plaque commemorating the third church of Saint-Louis-de-Kamouraska
Kamouraska (Québec), Canada

Credits:
The Collection of the Musée régional de Kamouraska
Plaster moulding
N.A.C. 1993.200

14

The census of 1831 reveals that José has become a Presbyterian but is the only one in his household to do so (he is living with his father, Joseph-Marie, his wife Adélaïde and their five children). Is this the result of his work as a navigator or of a conflict with the parish priest?