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Dictionary of Miramichi Biography

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JULIAN, MADELEINE (DAVID) (1734-1819)

JULIAN, MADELEINE (DAVID), interpreter; b. c1734; m. Francis Julian; d. Miramichi, 16 Jul 1819.

Madeleine (David) Julian, wife of Francis Julian (q.v.), had a French father and an Indian mother and is thought to have been the daughter of a Norman fisherman from the Gaspé coast and his Micmac wife. For many years she acted as a French-Micmac interpreter for the missionary priests who did not speak the native language. The most sensitive part of her work was the interpretation of confessions. She was doing this job at Caraquet as early as 1772 for Father Charles-François Bailly. It is noted in the church records that on 21 June of that year she had her four-year-old son Michel (Mitchell) Julian with her at Caraquet and had him baptized.

Madeleine (David) Julian was a fervent Catholic, and it was felt that in her ardor she sometimes embellished the words spoken by the priest in the confessional. "Elle est queleques fois plus sévère que le missionaire," observed Father Rémi-Pierre Joyer in 1806.

During his pastoral visit in 1812 Bishop Joseph-Octave Plessis noted in his journal that Madeleine (David) Julian had been of invaluable assistance as an interpreter of confessions, "de temps immémorial." He added that she had taken it upon herself to condemn drunkenness in the congregation and had implored him to require penitence of all drunkards. He demurred, however, after learning that the drunkards made up two-thirds of those served by the mission and that they included "le premier chef" (Chief Andrew Julian).

Madeleine (David) Julian died at Red Bank in 1819, at eighty-five years of age.

Sources

[d] Hamilton (JT) / Dictionnaire Biographique


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