Philippe Aubert de Gaspé

Born in Quebec City in 1786, Philippe-Joseph Aubert de Gaspé was a Canadian lawyer, writer, and the fifth and last seigneur of Saint-Jean-Port-Joli. He is remembered above all for Les Anciens Canadiens (1863), a novel widely regarded as a classic of French Canadian literature.

His life was marked by both privilege and hardship. After training in law and serving as sheriff for the Quebec district, he later faced financial troubles and spent time in prison for debt. Those reversals, along with his deep ties to old Quebec families and traditions, helped shape the rich anecdotes and historical memory that would later feed his writing.

Late in life, he published Les Anciens Canadiens and then his Mémoires, drawing on personal recollection, oral tradition, and the social world of pre-Confederation Quebec. The result is work that preserves a vivid picture of French Canadian life and made him one of the most lasting literary voices of 19th-century Quebec.