Date Published:
March 2005

L’Encyclopédie de l’histoire du Québec / The Quebec History Encyclopedia

Jacques Viger

Viger, Jacques (1787-1858), antiquarian, was a cousin of the Hon. D. B. Viger, and was born at Montreal on May 7, 1787, the son of Jacques Viger and Amaranthe Prévost. He was educated at the College of St. Raphael, became a surveyor, and in 1813 was appointed an inspector of roads and bridges at Montreal. He fought in the War of 1812 as an officer of the Voltigeurs, and was present at the capture of Sackett's Harbour. In 1832 he was elected the first mayor of Montreal. He devoted his life to the collection of materials relating to. Canadian history. Of these he left twenty-nine manuscript volumes, which he called his "Sabredache", and an "Album" of original illustrations. Apart from some official reports, he was the author of only two pamphlets, Archéologie religieuse du diocèse de Montreal (Montreal, 1850) and Souvenirs historiques sur la seigneurie de La Prairie (Montreal, 1857). He died at Montreal on December 12, 1858. In 1808 he married Marie Marguerite, daughter of Lacorne de St. Luc, and widow of Major the Hon. John Lennox. Some of his letters to his wife were published in the Revue Canadienne, 1914. See. E. Z. Massicotte, Jacques Viger et sa famille (Bull. rech. hist., 1915).

Source  : W. Stewart WALLACE, ed., The Encyclopedia of Canada, Vol. VI, Toronto, University Associates of Canada, 1948, 398p., p. 242-243.