Joseph Damase Chartrand

Born on November 23, 1852, in Saint-Vincent-de-Paul, Quebec, Joseph-Damase Chartrand led an unusually varied life. He studied at Collège Masson, spent time in Toronto and Chicago as a young man, and later trained in France at the military school of Saint-Maixent. He served in several military settings, including the French Foreign Legion and the Canadian militia, and these experiences became the foundation of much of his writing.

Chartrand wrote under several names, including Ch. des Écorres, and became known for lively, firsthand accounts such as Expéditions autour de ma tente, Saint-Maixent, souvenirs d’école militaire, and Au pays des étapes, notes d’un légionnaire. Beyond books, he was a prolific journalist who contributed a huge number of articles to newspapers and magazines. He also founded La Revue nationale in the 1890s, adding editor and publisher to an already wide-ranging career.

His life also included work as a bookkeeper and as a teacher of French and bookkeeping in Kingston, Ontario, where he died on April 2, 1905. That mix of discipline, travel, and literary curiosity gives his work a distinctive voice: part memoir, part reportage, and part spirited reflection on the worlds he moved through.