The Story of Richard Dulong

Richard Dulong was born in the parish of St-Martin, village of Lieurey, diocese of Lisieux, district of St-George-du-Vièvre, ward of Pont-Audemer, department of Eure, province of Normandie, France, on 3 May 1718. He was baptized on the same day. The parish church of Lieurey, in which he was baptized and many of his ancestors worshipped in, still stands. He was the son of Gabriel Dulong, a merchant, and Jeanne Boissiere.


Church of St-Martin de Lieurey		Interior view of St-Martin

Gargoyles and the windows of St-Martin. This would have been the church that Ricard Dulong and his ancestors attended.

Panoramic view of the town square looking at the church and townhall.

View of the town square looking out from the front of the townhall.

Townhall of Lieurey, built after the departure of Richard Dulong. These photographs of Lieurey were taken by Sylvain Dulong in 2020.

Richard came to New France between 25 February 1743 and 1 October 1744, probably in the Spring of 1743 or 1744. We know this because in 1743 he was a witness at the wedding of Jean Roullard and Marie Dulong, probably his cousin, back in Lieurey. This is the first and last time that he signed the parish register of Lieurey. In 1744 he signed a notarial contract to work as a domestic servant for Jean-Baptiste-Nicolas-Roch de Ramesay, écuyer, seigneur de Sorel, and a Captain in the Marines. He first appears in a parish register in Québec on 23 July 1746 when he is found as a godfather at the baptism of Elisabeth Bourvret at Notre-Dame in Montréal.

In 1748, Richard was a navigator on a barque (a small two-masted ship) named Niagara (or possibly, from Niagara). By 1754 he was an innkeeper in Montréal on the rue St-Jacques. That same year he purchased a lot on the nearby rue St-Gabriel and moved his inn to this location on the west side of the street between the rue Notre-Dame and the rue St-Jacques.

In 1769, he was issued a liquor license by British authorities. At that time he was operating under the sign of the "board." Board in this instance meaning a well-laid table with food and drink, as in the phrase "room and board." He would run a successful inn, or auberge, on the rue St-Gabriel until his death. His children sold off the inn in 1796.

This inn was finally torn down in 1963 to make way for the new Palais de Justice. The tradition of Richard's inn is kept alive today at the Auberge le vieux St-Gabriel, a restaurant, which is south of the original inn's location between the rue Notre-Dame and the rue St-Paul, near the rue Ste-Thérèse. A drawing of this restaurant from its menu appears at the top of this page. Richard and his sons, at one time or another, owned other properties on rues Notre-Dame, St-Gabriel, and St-Paul.

Modern-day image of the Auberge le vieux St-Gabriel taken by Sylvain Dulong.

Richard's life can in part be traced by the many notarial contracts that he signed. In addition, he witnessed many interesting historical events including the surrender of Montréal to the British in 1760 and the capture of his city by American revolutionaries in 1775. Richard died on 28 June 1787 in Montréal and was buried on 30 June.

Richard was married twice. First to Marie-Louise Judic dite Rencontre, the daughter of François Judic dit Rencontre and Agathe Buteau, on 9 September 1748 in Montréal. Second to Marie-Cécile Bazinet, the daughter of Antoine Bazinet--a captain of the militia at Pointe-aux-Trembles--and Gertrude Senet, on 10 February 1755 in Montréal. For both his marriages he received a dispensation for the reading the second and third bans. His friend Charles Feltz, a German-born surgeon attached to the Montréal garrison, signed both of his marriage contracts. Feltz was prominent in Montréal society and owned a number of Black slaves. Richard would have five children with one surviving from his first wife and seven children with three surviving from his second wife.