Joseph-Narcisse Cardinal (February 8, 1808 – December 21, 1838) was a

notary A notary is a person authorised to perform acts in legal affairs, in particular witnessing signatures on documents. The form that the notarial profession takes varies with local legal systems. A notary, while a legal professional, is distin ...

and political figure in

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 ...

. He was the first person executed for taking part in the

Lower Canada Rebellion The Lower Canada Rebellion (), commonly referred to as the Patriots' Rebellion () in French, is the name given to the armed conflict in 1837–38 between rebels and the colonial government of Lower Canada (now southern Quebec). Together wit ...

. He was born in Saint-Constant in 1808, the son of Joseph Cardinal, a

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

merchant, and studied at the Petit Séminaire de Montréal. He moved to

Châteauguay Châteauguay ( , , ) is an off-island suburbs, off-island suburb of Montreal, in southwestern Quebec, located on both the Châteauguay River and Lake Saint-Louis, Lac St-Louis, which is a section of the St. Lawrence River. The population of the ...

with his family, articled as a notary there and qualified to practice in 1829. He was a school trustee there from 1829 to 1832. In 1831, he married Eugénie, the daughter of Bernard Saint-Germain, an interpreter with the Indian Department. His parents and one of his brothers died in a

cholera Cholera () is an infection of the small intestine by some Strain (biology), strains of the Bacteria, bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea last ...

epidemic in 1832. Cardinal served in the local militia, becoming captain in 1834. In 1834, he was elected to the

Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada The Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada was the lower house of the bicameral structure of provincial government in Lower Canada until 1838. The legislative assembly was created by the Constitutional Act of 1791. The lower house consisted of e ...

for Laprairie County, as a supporter of the

parti patriote The () or () was a primarily francophone political party in what is now Quebec founded by members of the liberal elite of Lower Canada at the beginning of the 19th century. Its members were made up of liberal professionals and small-scale ...

. In 1837, he resigned from his position in the militia and became one of the Patriote leaders in the county. Cardinal did not take part in the armed rebellion, but fled to New York after his political opponents threatened to turn him over to the authorities because of his support for the Patriote movement. He returned in 1838 and became a member of the Association des frères chasseurs. He was leader for the Patriote army at Châteauguay during the rebellion in 1838 and was later captured at

Kahnawake The Kahnawake Mohawk Territory (, in the Mohawk language, ''Kahnawáˀkye'' in Tuscarora) is a First Nations reserve of the Mohawks of Kahnawà:ke on the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River in Quebec, Canada, across from Montreal. Establi ...

. Considered leaders of the rebellion at Châteauguay, Cardinal and three others were sentenced to death for the crime of high treason with a recommendation for executive clemency. Cardinal and Joseph Duquet were hanged at Montreal in December 1838. He was buried in the old Catholic cemetery at Montreal. In 1858, his remains were moved to the

Notre Dame des Neiges Cemetery Notre Dame des Neiges Cemetery (, ) is a rural cemetery located in the borough of Côte-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, which was founded in 1854. The entrance and the grounds run along a part of Côte-des-Neiges Ro ...

and buried under a monument dedicated to the Patriotes of 1837–8.

External links

* * * French Wikipedia article about failed Patriote raid on Kahnawake in November 1838 :fr:Attitude des Amérindiens du Bas-Canada lors des rébellions de 1837-1838 {{DEFAULTSORT:Cardinal, Joseph-Narcisse 1808 births 1838 deaths Lower Canada Rebellion people Members of the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada Executed Canadian people People executed by Lower Canada People executed for treason against the United Kingdom People executed in British North America by hanging Burials at Notre Dame des Neiges Cemetery

See also

External links