Benjamin Sulte (September 17, 1841 – August 6, 1923), baptized Olivier-Benjamin Vadeboncœur, was a Canadian journalist, writer, civil servant, and historian. Born in

Trois-Rivières Trois-Rivières (, ; ) is a city in the Mauricie administrative region of Quebec, Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Saint-Maurice River, Saint-Maurice and Saint Lawrence River, Saint Lawrence rivers, on the north shore of the Sain ...

Lower Canada The Province of Lower Canada () was a British colonization of the Americas, British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence established in 1791 and abolished in 1841. It covered the southern portion o ...

(now

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

), to Benjamin Sulte dit Vadeboncœur, and Marie-Antoinette Lefebvre, Sulte had to leave school in 1851 as a consequence of the death of his father in 1847. He held a variety of jobs including working in a dry goods shop, as a clerk in a grocer's shop, as a bookkeeper for lumber merchants, as a paymaster on a steamship, and as an owner of a shop on a

Grand Trunk Railway The Grand Trunk Railway (; ) was a Rail transport, railway system that operated in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario and in the List of states and territories of the United States, American sta ...

line. In 1861, he joined the militia eventually becoming a sergeant-major. In 1866, he was appointed editor of ''Le Canada'', a Conservative Ottawa newspaper. In 1867, he became a translator in the

House of Commons of Canada The House of Commons of Canada () is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Monarchy of Canada#Parliament (King-in-Parliament), Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the Bicameralism, bicameral legislature of Ca ...

. In 1870, he started working for the Department of Militia and Defence eventually becoming chief clerk in 1889. He retired in 1903. In 1871, he married Augustine Parent, daughter of

Étienne Parent Étienne Parent (May 2, 1802 – December 22, 1874) was a Canadians, Canadian journalist, politician and government official. A French-Canadian nationalist, he wrote extensively on political theory and governance during the 1820s and 1830s in ...

. He wrote poems, songs, and was a historian. In 1882 he was appointed a charter member of the

Royal Society of Canada The Royal Society of Canada (RSC; , SRC), also known as the Academies of Arts, Humanities, and Sciences of Canada (French: ''Académies des arts, des lettres et des sciences du Canada''), is the senior national, bilingual council of distinguishe ...

, and served as its president from 1904 to 1905. In 1916, he was awarded an honorary LL.D. by the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

Selected works

* ''Les Laurentiennes: poésies'' (Montréal, 1869) * ''Histoire de la ville des Trois-Rivières et de ses environs'' (Montréal, 1870) * ''Mélanges d'histoire et de littérature'' (Ottawa, 1876) * ''Chants nouveaux'' (Ottawa, 1880) * ''Histoire des Canadiens-français, 1608–1880: origine, histoire, religion, guerres, découvertes, colonisation, coutumes, vie domestique, sociale et politique, développement, avenir'' (8 volumes, 1882-1884) * ''Mélanges Historiques : Études éparses et inédites'' (21 vols. Montreal 1918) *

References

External links

* * * *
Gravures dans l'Histoire des Canadiens-Français de Benjamin Sulte
', Web Robert DEROME, professeur honoraire d'histoire de l'art, Université du Québec à Montréal. {{DEFAULTSORT:Sulte, Benjamin 1841 births 1923 deaths 19th-century Canadian civil servants 20th-century Canadian historians Canadian male non-fiction writers Canadian male journalists Journalists from Quebec Writers from Quebec Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada) 19th-century Canadian historians