Review of "Fanny Allen — Ethan Allen’s Daughter" by Sr. Helen Morrissey

 

FANNY ALLEN — ETHAN ALLEN’S DAUGHTER, 

SISTER HELEN MORRISSEY, R.H.S.J.

Par ALBERT JUTRAS. 

 

Bien qu’écrit en anglais, ce livre n’en doit pas moins attirer l’attention des Canadiens de langue française. Les lecteurs Anglais du Canada et des Etats-Unis prennent ainsi connaissance de notre passé et nous respectent d'avantage.

Après la défaite de la France, les tergiversations de Vichy nous ont mis dans une situation bien délicate à l’endroit des Anglais et des Américains. Tout ce qui contribute à démontrer nos liens avec ces peuples et notre loyauté, sauvegarde notre prestige. Soeur Hélène Morrissey, après la tâche du Jour, trouve dans la paix du cloître le courage, les moyens et les loisirs de faire raconter leurs secrets aux archives de l’Hôtel-Dieu. Le succès de sa « Vie de Jeanne Mance » se répète dans l’accueil que l’on fait à «Fanny Allen, fille d’Ethan Allen».

L’ouvrage se divise en deux parties : la première, et la plus importante quantitativement parlant, concerne la famille Allen et sur toutes faits d’armes du Général Allen, sa position politique et sociale ; la seconde nous dit avec simplicité la touchante histoire d’une convertie. ' Cette disposition se conforme à la logique pour deux motifs: 1° la biographie du père de Fanny est d’importance historique ; 2° l’athéisme de cet homme milite contre toute expansion religieuse au sein de sa famille.

Ethan Allen, né a Litchfield, Connecticut, en 1737, s’établit très jeune a4 Bennington dans le Vermont. Pendant la révolution il recrute un régiment, fameux par sa bravoure, qu’il nomme « Green Mountain Boys ». Dans la nuit du 9 mai 1775, à la tête de deux cent trente de ces gars, il traverse le lac Champlain et prend par audace et surprise le Fort Ticonderoga, point stratégique qui assurait le contrôle de la région et ouvrait une porte sur le Canada. Le 25 septembre de la même année, avec cent dix hommes plus ou moins aguerris dont 80 Canadiens, il débarque à la Longue-Pointe et tente la capture de Montréal. La trahison et l’infériorité numérique le conduisent à la défaite et à l’emprisonnement. Chargé de fers, il est transporté en Angleterre où il subit humiliations et mauvais traitements. Après dix-huit mois de captivité, il est échangé contre un prisonnier anglais et retourne en Amérique. On l’y acclame commeun héros et on le comble d’honneurs. Les promotions se succèdent et il devient général. Georges Washington le reçoit dans l’intimité et vante ses mérites. Sur le terrain politique il lutte avec la même fermeté que sur les champs de bataille; avec ses frères Heman et Ira, il est un des principaux artisans de l’indépendance du Vermont et de l’admission de cette république dans l’Assoeiation des Etats. La famille acquiert ainsi beaucoup d’influence et prospère.

Ethan Allen se marie deux fois; sa première femme lui donne cinq enfants; sa seconde, née Montressor et jeune veuve du Capitaine Buchanan, lui en donne trois, don’t Fanny la cadette. Celle-ci n’a que cinq ans lorsque son père meurt subitement, à l’âge de 52 ans, en 1789. La veuve d’Ethan Allen convole en troisièmes noces avec le Docteur Jabez Penniman, éminent médecin, qui se prend d’affection pour Fanny dont il admire l’intelligence, la beauté et la grâce. C’est ici que commence pour de bon l’histoire de la future Hospitalière de Saint-Joseph.

Pendant qu’elle habite chez son beau-père à Westminster se produit l’incident miraculeux qui auratant d’influence sur ses décisions ultérieures. Alors qu’âgée de 12 ans, Fanny se promène dans le jardin, « véritable paradis de fruits et de fleurs » que baigne la rivière Connecticut, elle aperçoit soudain un monster de dimensions extraordinaires et de forme horrifiante surgir du torrent et se diriger vers elle. Prise de panique, elle est immobilisée sur place et se torture de frayeur; à ce moment apparaît un homme d’allure vénérable, vêtu de bure et tenant une hampe. L’inconnu la prend par le bras, la pousse et lui rend le courage de fuir, en disant gentiment:

« Mon enfant, que faites-vous là? Sauvez-vous ». Les recherches immédiates du protecteur par le personnel de la maison restent vaines. Quatre ans plus tard Fanny connaît son premier amour sous les aspects d’un étudiant de l’Université du Vermont, fils d’un riche Bostonnais et possédant tous les attributs du prince charmant. Les tourtereaux filent leur idylle pendant deux années; mais, a la veille des fiançailles, la jeune fille annonce tout-à-coup son désir d’aller apprendre le français à l’Académie Notre-Dame de Montréal. La familles’ étonne; avant de céder et par crainte du catholicisme, on force Fanny au baptême par un ministre presbytérien.

L’adolescente, qui a hérité du franc parler de son père, déclare carrément qu’elle ne croit en aucun culte et qu’elle accepte la cérémonie seulement pour ne point déplaire aux siens. La Révérend Daniel Barber qui administre le sacrement à la. néophyte récalcitrante se convertira plus tard au catholicisme et avec lui, la majorité de sa famille. Chez les Dames de la Congrégation, Fanny se fait d’abord remarquer par son indiscipline et sa mécréance. Sur le point d’être expulsée à cause de sa mauvaise influence sur ses compagnes, elle tombe dans le mysticisme.

Chargée de porter des fleurs au Tabernacle, elle est saisie de respect pour la Présence Divine; sa transformation spirituelle est rapide et la conduit bientôt au désir du baptême catholique, ce que lui accorde le Père LeSaulnier qui considère nul le baptême presbytérien reçu à contre gré.

La nouvelle indigne les parents qui ramènent leur enfant au Vermont et par tous les plaisirs de la société, s’appliquent à la distraire de sa foi. La jouvencelle a retrouvé son fiancé et lui conserve de l’affection; mais le désir de se faire religieuse grandit en elle. Au bout de six mois, ses aspirations trop contenues commencent d’altérer sa santé; on s’inquiète autour d’elle et, enfin, on découvre le secret. Il est dangereux de résister à un si fort appel. Fanny revient donc à Montréal pour le choix d’une communauté. Au terme d’une journée de démarches et de chaleur, elle pénètre dans la chapelle de l’Hôtel-Dieu situé rue Saint-Paul à cette époque. À l’avant-choeur se trouve un tableau représentant la Sainte-Famille; elle y reconnaît dans Saint-Joseph l’image de celui qui l’a secourue jadis contre le dragon. La lumière éclate sur le destin de Fanny Allen; elle opte pour les Hospitalière de Saint-Joseph, soeurs cloîtrées qui perpétuent l’oeuvre de Jeanne Mance. Avec modestie,elle prend place au milieu de ces femmes volontairement obscures qui partagent leur existence entre le soin des malades et la prière. Sa quiétude n’est plus troublée que de loin en loin par les visites des gens du Vermont qui viennent converser un moment avec la jolie fille de leur regretté Général Ethan Allen. Elle meurt d’une pneumopathie aiguë, dans la onzième année de sa profession de charité, le 10 décembre 1819, à l’âge de 35 ans. Les restes de Soeur Allen reposent actuellement dans la crypte de la chapelle de l’Hôtel-Dieu où ils furent transportés quand les Hospitalières quittèrent la rue Saint-Paul.

Ce sommaire ne donne qu’un aperçu du livre de Soeur Morrissey. Il faut le lire pour assister‘aux metamorphoses spirituelles d’une petite fille que rien dans son education ou son milieu n’orientait vers le cloître. Le père, célébré comme un héros, occupe un des plus hauts postes de son pays et il est riche. C’est de plus un agnostique combattant; il a écrit un livre qui s’intitule: La raison, le seul oracle de l’homme. On ne pense pas autrement dans la famille. À dix-huit ans Fanny est fiancé à un jeune homme beau et riche de la société bostonnaise. En outre, elle est d’une beauté extraordinaire ; même sous les voiles de la religieuse, ses charmes physiques font impression; les profanes la nomment « The Beautiful American Nun ». C’est sans doute le sacrifice de sa beauté qui rend si bizarre, à nos esprits mondains, le suicide social de Soeur Allen. De même les vertus de Sainte Thérèse de l’Enfant-Jésus, sa passion sublime pour le Christ, auraient-elles enthousiasmé au meme point l’humanité, si l’enveloppe charnelle de cette âme, pure comme cristal, n’eût offert tant de séduction? Une fille laide, disgraciée de la fortune et de la société, qui entre en religion, peut très bien ne pas agir pour des motifs d’intérêt, par la crainte de ne se point marier, par la peur de vivre; mais la belle, qui renonce à toutes les promesses du monde, nous fait mieux comprendre la force et l’absolu de certaines vocations.

C’est, en somme, ce qui se dégage de la biographie de Fanny Allen. Les heures qu’on passe à en prendre connaissance procurent de profondes émotions. Le récit marche sans prétention, sans préciosité ; il révèle le bon goût, l’élégance, la sensibilité et l’intelligence de l’auteur. Chose remarquable par dessus tout, c’est l’objectivité, le libéralisme, avec lequel Soeur Morrissey parle de l’irréligiosité des Allen. On se serait attendu à voir le héros anti-chrétien de l’indépendance du Vermont avili par une plume monastique. Eh bien! non. Il garde tout le pittoresque de son caractère ainsi que toutes ses qualités de soldat, de politique et de chef de famille. L’ouvrage s’enrichit de gravures, de photographies et de document qui témoignent d’un souci de précision dans la recherche historique qu’on avait déjà admiré dans « Life of Jeanne Mance ». La présentation typographique est à la hauteur, de sorte que c’est un grand plaisir de posséder ce dernier volume de Soeur Hélène Morrissey. Les médecins de l’Hôtel-Dieu éprouveront de la fierté à l’introduire dans leur bibliothèque et à le faire connaître à leurs amis.”

 

From, The Journal of the Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal, January 1, 1941, May-June

On peut se procurer « Fanny Allen — Ethan Allen’s Daughter » en s’adressant directement à l’auteur, Soeur Hélène Morrissey, Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal. L’édition courante cartonnée se vend $3.00: l’édition de luxe, $10.00. (Pas disponible depuis 1941.)

Tenant Eviction, 01 August 2015

 

"One Art" by Elizabeth Bishop

 

The art of losing isn’t hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster.

Lose something every day. Accept the fluster
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
The art of losing isn’t hard to master.

Then practice losing farther, losing faster:
places, and names, and where it was you meant
to travel. None of these will bring disaster.

I lost my mother’s watch. And look! my last, or
next-to-last, of three loved houses went.
The art of losing isn’t hard to master.

I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,
some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.
I miss them, but it wasn’t a disaster.

—Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture
I love) I shan’t have lied. It’s evident
the art of losing’s not too hard to master
though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.

In the garden, two videos

Made with my IPhone (the way many/most people make videos these days), about two weeks ago, in mid-July 2026.
 

My grandfather's home at 2217 Hampton Avenue, 28 July 2011

Door on left is 2217 Hampton Avenue 

This was where my maternal grandparents John Parker and Bessie Chew, lived from around the late 1930s to 1965. My grandparents were originally from Blackburn, Lancashire, England.

My Uncle John and Auntie Muriel lived in the 
upper flat; that is, my grandfather’s son and
his family. 

This is the lane behind my grandfather's home on  Hampton Avenue

 

The early days at Trout River, transcribed by Robert Sellar

 

Robert Sellar, 1841 - 1919

Located in south-western Quebec, just south of Huntingdon, Trout River crosses the border from New York State to Quebec next to the border crossing on Route 138. It is an historical river, the place where the first settlers built their homes and began farming around 1820. In 1870 Fenians invaded Canada at this border crossing, but they were defeated and fled back to Malone, NY. The following is excerpted from Robert Sellar's history of this area, published in 1888, in it he transcribes an early settler's memories of first arriving at Trout River: 

The road was good until I got to Trout River Lines, where I rested at John O'Reilly's. My feet were sore by this time, and O'Reilly told me to pull my boots off, and bringing a tumbler of spirits, with part he rubbed my feet, and made me drink the rest.  It was the Fourth of July, and the Americans were celebrating it. Lumbering was actively pushed along the river, and all the pine, and most of the oak had gone before the Old Countrymen came in. Shaw took out most on the north bank and Barlow on the south.

The road along Trout River was very bad, fit only for oxen, and I met two of the Elder boys working on it. There were quite a number of small clearances. Towards evening I reached John Wallis's, where I went in to rest and ask my way. There I found James Biggar, who told me he was a neighbor to my cousins, and I went with him. The road from Wallis's to the Ridge was merely a blazed track. I stayed all night at Biggar's, and started next morning for my cousins. I soon came on their clearing, and there I found the three brothers at work in their shirts only, for the day was oppressively hot, logging. John was the first to recognize me, and rushing towards me, he flung his arms around my neck, knocking me down, and rolling over me in ecstasy of joy. I agreed to work with them, and stayed altogether settlers' toils. They were living on lot 21, in a shanty 10 x 14, and as they had only been there since the spring had little done.

The first sawmill after Davis's was one built by an American, Colonel Allen, on lot 54, nearly behind where the custom-house now is, and engaged David Smith, who long after lived on the road to New Ireland, to run it. He sold out to Col. Pettis. The great want of the settlement was a gristmill, and it was not until 1829 it was supplied. In the preceding year Andw. Anderson, who was acquainted with mill-work, and Archd. Henderson bought the privilege at Kensington, and built a small mill on the Elgin side, with 3 run of stones, operated by a large board wheel, so high that the machinery had to be on the second story. The first miller was a Canadian, who spoke English fluently, Julien, followed by Peter Taylor, and in 1836 by Robert Clark, who gave the mill a wide reputation. During the July freshet of 1831, part of the dam was swept away, and, in rebuilding the opportunity was taken to erect a sawmill on the Godmanchester bank. It is unnecessary to say that this mill was a great boon to the settlement, though the Scotch deplored its inability, for many years, to make oatmeal, and when McArthur started his horse-mill, not a few travelled down to it for a bagful.

The first store at Trout River lines was opened by an American, James Y. Dickie, about 1823, and soon after Squire Stearns, also an American, opened one at Helena, and subsequently added an ashery and pearling-oven, but did not succeed, owing to his habits. About 1820, Dr Taylor, spoken of in Mrs Cooper's narrative, came and began to practice. He was an uneducated man, with a taste for medicine, who had received some training under a physician. His success as an accoucheur aided him, but after all he made a poor living, and was wont to go on his visits on foot, carrying in a pair of saddlebags slung over his arm his medicines and instruments. That section of Godmanchester called the Beaver was late in being brought under cultivation owing to its wetness.

Barlow got a small contract on the first Lachine canal and returned in the winter (probably that of 1821) with 3 old horses and as many tombreau. These were the first and only horses from the Lines to the Meadows, and he hired them out, with a boy, at $2 a day to take grist to mill. A long bag was chosen, in which a bushel of corn or wheat was put in each end, and then, tied in the centre, was slung across the horse, the boy riding. $2 was a big sum to the settlers, but they could not better themselves, for carrying a bag on their shoulders or taking a canoe to go down to Huntingdon was exhausting and involved much loss of time. By-and-by the road got better cut out, and in winter ox-teams got along with ease, but it was not until near 1830 that there was a decent road for wheeled vehicles to the Fort. The first school was opened in a shanty by the riverside at Kensington by Mrs Hezekiah Barter, an American, and the second was taught by Daniel Sutton, who was lame, and member of a numerous family who were American squatters. He taught in a shanty on the river-bank near Tully's bridge. He was a fair scholar and something of an artist, for at the examinations he held, his prizes were colored drawings from his own pencil, and which were greatly prized by his scholars.

 

Note: excerpted from The history of the county of Huntingdon and of the seigniories of Chateaugay and Beauharnois, from their settlement to the year 1838 (Huntingdon, The Canadian Gleaner, 1888) by Robert Sellar.

by

 

Sellar, Robert

 

Some excerpts from Wilder Penfield's "Man and his Family" (1967)

 

Man and his Family, by Wilder Penfield

Man and his Family, by Wilder Penfield

McClelland and Stewart Limited, Toronto, 1967

Originally given as a lecture of the Josiah Wood Lectureship, Mount Allison University, Sackville, New Brunswick

 

Excerpts from Dr. Penfield’s book:

When I returned, he was asleep. He wakened at once and, reaching for the message, read it carefully and nodded:   “’There is a crisis in the family. It is time for men and women to take action. We can control our civilization.’”  On the following morning, at twenty minutes after eleven, the faltering heart of a great Canadian stopped beating. Death came quietly to Georges P. Vanier.  (p. 14)

 

The Institute is based on the proposition that, through the family, civilization can be controlled and the evolution of society can be directed.  This proposition was the inspiration that came to Georges P. Vanier and his wife while they lived at Rideau Hall.  (p. 17)

 

Who is to say what are the most important causes of the rising tide of anti-social behaviour? Not I. We must face it all, together. But this one thing I know—the place to correct the causes of the evil is in the home, not in the courts of law, not in the prisons. And of this I am sure: the woman is the natural defender of the home, and when a husband is present, or if he cannot or will not assume the leadership, she must be the Captain of those who defend the Citadel. (p. 31)

 

Young people of today have not changed fundamentally. They want, before all, else, to have successful families of their own, even those who have never known a happy family first hand. Those who do not hope for this constitute a small minority of abnormal individuals.  (p. 35)

 

“Get interested,” he (Stephen Leacock) said, “not in one thing or a part of a thing but in all things.” He even paraphrased the first aphorism of Hippocrates (without acknowledgement, I may add). “Art,” he said, “is notoriously long and life is infamously short.” He added, “It is not much that we can ever know, but let at least  be wisely distributed.”  (p. 43)

 

At this time of crisis in Western society, men are looking to education for the cure of what is wrong, and for leadership toward what is right. It is the family, as well as the university and the school, that must respond to the challenge. ... Education begins at home. It should continue there after the last diploma is won. Culture is an indefinable quality that is distilled in the process of living the good life. It is a matter of manners and morals and personality. Culture, in its original sense, is the sin qua non of successful education. It points the way to responsible citizenship. And the best of all cultures is the home-grown variety. (p. 47)

 

In capitalist countries there is a vast confusion without a major plan of propaganda either for political power or public good. One practice that is peculiar to these countries is this: By means of “free” communication and “free” advertising (that can be purchased), the styles of dress and even behaviour of the majority are influenced by the few for their own financial gain. We discover, now, that in this vast democratic confusion there is a frightening increase in anti-social behaviour. (p. 49-50)

 

Man, coming to maturity, finds in marriage all the things that make life worthwhile. When all is well, he finds love, pleasure, security, dignity, happiness, companionship. The untutored native discovers this for himself, like the bird that builds his nest and sings in praise of love, no doubt, and family life. Happiness, security, love . . . these will always be theirs while the family is intact. Should the family fall, society and civilization will be doomed. (p. 52)

 

This would be a movement toward temperance in all things. We might put a stop to the glorification of violence, crime, wrong sex relations, pornography, alcoholic excess.   (p. 59)

 

I have spent a professional lifetime studying the human brain. I assure you there is, as yet, no scientific proof that the brain can control the mind except in delirium or insanity. Science thrpws no light on the essential nature of the spirit or man or God. In 1960, at the three hundredth anniversary of the founding of the Royal Society of London, the oldest scientific society in the world, the President, Sir Cyril Hinshelwood, made this statement: “The men of science themselves, as far as can be judged, have numbered about the same proportion of religious believers as the generality of people. Nor,” he added, “have they been conspicuously less well endowed with kindness or morality.” For myself, I would like to believe that this was a modest understatement of the part of a Nobel Laureate.  (p. 62)

 

To my way of thinking, belief in God is the most reasonable of all the assumptions open to me, and I believe that the spiritual essence of man, being similar to that of God, is somehow in communication with God.   (p. 62 – 63)

 

In conclusion, the family is the citadel of society. Let me repeat: “There never` has been – and I believe there never will be – a durable society based on any system other than the union of man, woman, and child, and on fidelity to that unit.”   (p. 66)

 

The world has not changed fundamentally. The changes we see are material ones. Things of the spirit do not alter. Truth remains. Moral values are the same – yesterday, today, and tomorrow.  (p. 80)

 

Love is the strength within the family. This strength could save the world, as well as the nation. There is authority in human nature. As the family evolves, wisdom comes in the normal course of things and security, and a happiness, too, perchance, that is unique.  (p. 88)

 

Spring to summer

Spring can be a chilly season here; however, spring also transitions to summer almost overnight, usually in early May. One day it’s cold, the next day I’m installing a window air conditioner. These photographs show the profound change that happens in only three months, from April to July.

The following photos were taken on 18 April 2026:

A crow in flight 

These photos were taken on 6 July 2026:

New construction at the Village Shopping Plaza

This was on 04 July 2026: after four months of not being able to go for walks due to a sprained ankle I am back walking and feeling pretty good. Remember the Village Shopping Plaza or the Robert Burns Pub, corner of Robert Burns and Cote St. Luc Road? It was finally torn down, the earth levelled, and a few weeks ago construction began on this new building. It will be eighteen floors of condos or apartments, 150 units, two basement floors for parking; as people are getting old they are selling off their homes and buying condos; it makes sense. There has been quite a lot of condo construction in this area and this was one of the few remaining empty lots. I suppose there will be a few stores on street level. 

                            Imagine looking out of your living room window and seeing a Hydro tower and live electric wires
                                                        a few feet away, maybe you'll be able to hear them buzzing ...

An article in The Suburban reads:

Also of note is the 120-kV overhead high-voltage line within the Hydro-Québec easement behind the building which will be replaced. Hydro’s plans to modernize the grid between 2027-2030 and convert the line to 315 kV, means replacing the current installation with a 65-metre high pylon, and moving the line 10 metres closer to the railway track. The move is required to accommodate the city’s and Hydro’s 27-km green corridor.

And what about those train tracks? On a regular basis I see tankers, each full of oil, passing within 100 feet of this site. I am reminded of Lac Megantic... I live about five blocks from here and I can hear trains passing. 

 

The night garden, 6 July 2026

 

Canadian cottage garden, two videos, 12 July 2026

 

Two new videos of my Canadian cottage garden...

An evening walk with CZ, 13 July 2013