De Gannes Property

Like several of his neighbours, Michel de Gannes de Falaise (1702-1752) held a commission in the colonial troops. Born to a military family at Port Royal in Acadia, he trained in Québec but saw much of his service here alongside military in-laws and cousins. Twice during 1744, de Gannes was off making war in British-held Acadia, leaving this house to his wife Elisabeth de Catalogne and six children, age 12 to a babe in arms. Ask the servants here about Michel de Gannes, and about the other child he was supporting.

Just as a tidy insulating layer of Boston boards conceals the simple log walls of Michel de Gannes’s house the noble names of this family and the ones nearby disguise the presence of many humble folk around these properties. Rich and poor lived close together in the eighteenth century for the elite never doubted their superiority and felt no need to be isolated from lesser folk. Workmen and clerks laboured and sometimes lived in the nearby storehouses and plain carpenters and gardeners tended the properties. Tailors and wig makers made their rounds and nearly every household included at least one servant.

The lives of servants hide from scrutiny. One slave won freedom, married and acquired land; labourer's and fishermen's daughters might serve until they saved a dowry and could marry and raise a family, but many servants lived plain and silent lives, dependent on the families they served. In a little house like this one, a domestic would have been lucky to get a bed in the attic ⁠— some servants simply curled up in a corner of the kitchen. Despite their obscurity don’t forget the presence of servants and working people throughout the community.