Élisabeth Bégon née Marie-Isabelle-Élisabeth Rocbert de la Morandière (born in

Montréal 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 ...

in 1696, died in 1755), was a French-Canadian letter writer. She is known for the correspondence she wrote to her widowed son-in-law Honoré-Gabriel Michel de Villebois de La Rouvillière (1702-1752) between 1748 and 1753. The first of her extant letters describe the daily life of an elite colonial laywoman in

New France New France (, ) was the territory colonized by Kingdom of France, France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Kingdom of Great Br ...

between 1748 and 1749, when Bégon left Canada and settled in Rochefort. She continued to write to Michel from France, and her last known letters were written after their intended recipient's death in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

as news was slow to reach her. Bégon's ''oeuvre'' (a collection of written correspondence including letters, nine notebooks, and thirty-nine leaflets ) was published in 1935 under the title ''Lettres au cher fils''. The correspondence was mainly addressed to her son-in-law (Michel de Villebois de la Rouvillière), named ''commissaire ordonnateur'' of

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

in 1747, a post he did not assume until 1749. ''Lettres au cher fils'' only include those letters penned by Élisabeth Bégon herself; no return letters have ever been found. Her correspondence is unique to the writings of New France as it is one of the only known works written by a

French Canadian French Canadians, referred to as Canadiens mainly before the nineteenth century, are an ethnic group descended from French people, French colonists first arriving in Canada (New France), France's colony of Canada in 1608. The vast majority of ...

laywoman during this period of time. The original letters can be found at the National Library and Archives of Quebec.Bibliotheques et Archives Nationales du Quebec
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Begon, Elisabeth 1696 births 1755 deaths Canadian women non-fiction writers Pre-Confederation Quebec people Canadian non-fiction writers in French 18th-century Canadian non-fiction writers 18th-century Canadian women writers 18th-century French letter writers People of New France

See also

References