by Robert Hicks, February, 2025

I visited Valcartier for a week in October 2024 and had a chance to meet with others in the
community, cousins and people interested in the history. I was wined and dined by my sister
who still has a home in Valcartier. It was a good week and my first visit since the 200th
Anniversary of the community in 2016.

Valcartier has changed a lot since I was a youngster growing up in the 50s and 60s. (That’s
1900 not 1800) I knew where everyone lived and the Hicks families were at their apex. We
were all over the place! Now only a few live in the area. The family farm has just about
disappeared. In this article I have used a combination of what I was told, input from other descendants,
numerous websites and census files and set out to debunk the popular theory that the Hicks
family were always in Valcartier, originated at Lake Savanne and during a spring flood rafted
down the Nelson River and narrowly escaped drowning at the mill hill where they were left
high and dry.

The only truth I could find in this was that the first Hicks family in Valcartier did settle around
the mill hill. In my day the mill hill was well known and was named, I was told, as it was once
the location of a mill (makes sense). It is about 2 kms. south of the present village where the
Nelson River crosses the road (we used to call the Nelson River the brook). The hill has been
reduced due to road construction. In talks with other descendants and my own ideas, I think I
know the location of the original homestead. It is now on army property, on the west side of
the road by the mill hill down by the brook. We used to swim at the site years ago. A little
closer to the road is the house that my great grandfather lived in and where my grandfather
was raised. It has been refurbished and I don’t know who lives in the house now. It must be
one of the oldest houses in Valcartier.

The Hicks/Rolph families can be traced to Southampton, England and came to Quebec
sometime between 1840 and 1845. I couldn’t determine the exact year but they do appear in
Valcartier in 1851 census and list their five year old son, Joseph (my great grandfather) as
born in Canada. It appears they had a residence in both Valcartier and Quebec City for many
years. The 1851 and 1861 census shows Henry Sr. registered in both places. From
Southampton along with Henry Sr. came his wife, Mary Ann Rolph, their two children, at the
time, Henry Jr. and Elizabeth, Mary Ann’s father and mother, George Rolph and Ann
Nineham, and her two brothers, Jim and Joe Rolph. It seems the Hicks and Rolph families
worked closely together and often lived together in both Quebec City and Valcartier.
Henry Sr. and Mary Ann Rolph are listed as 35 years of age in 1851 and raised a large family
in Valcartier. Mary Ann passed away in 1870 in her mid-fifties and in 1875, Henry Sr. moved
and married Melvina Mecteau at the Notre Dame Basilica in Quebec City. It is interesting to
note that he needed and got the permission of the Archbishop of Quebec, Alexander
Taschereau to override the position of the church and allow the marriage. If the records are
correct their first daughter, Sarah, was born three months after the marriage. (Ooops!)
Melvina passed away before 1881 as the census lists Henry Sr. living in Champlain Ward in
Quebec with his daughters, Sophie and Sarah. His youngest son, Sam, from Valcartier is
also with them at this time. I can’t find Sophie and Sarah in later census.

Some family members say they were looked after by Kate, a daughter of Henry Sr. (I assume that would
be Catherine). They did have a third daughter in 1879 who died young and possibly Melvina
died in childbirth or shortly after. I was unable to find a Death or Burial Certificate for Melvina.
Henry Sr. and the Rolph brothers were Engineers/Boilermakers when they came to Quebec.
They must have got their education in Southampton and came to Quebec with the
expectation of getting jobs or possibly it was arranged before they left Southampton. I don’t
know exactly what they did in Quebec City but as boilermakers they would have been familiar
with the construction and repair of steam engines and the boilers that made them run. In both
ports the dock systems were rapidly expanding so there would be no problem in getting work.
In his marriage agreement with Melvina Mecteau in 1875, Henry Sr. identifies as a
“superintendent of workers”. It is hard to say how they ended up in Valcartier but it could
have been the opportunity to obtain a property with a sawmill. Lumber was in high demand in
Quebec and their knowledge of stream power would be a big asset. I also remember family
talk about them having a gristmill but can’t expand on this. It has been reported that John
Navin owned a sawmill on the Nelson River and that it was taken over by Henry Hicks in
1841/42. On the other hand possibly it was farming. The 1851 census shows that the family
did have animals and produced crops in Valcartier and Henry Jr. went on to become a farmer.

The Hicks family, including Mary Ann Rolph, were members of the “Religious Society of
Friends” or “Quakers” and the Rolph family identified with “The Free Church”. I couldn’t find
any evidence that they were members before they left Southampton. The “Religious Society
of Friends” or better known as “Quakers” was founded by George Fox in England in the mid-
to-late 17th century. Fox led a group that rebelled against the religious and political authorities
at the tail end of the Protestant Reformation started by Martin Luther and others in the early
16th century. I think the Quaker and Free Church thinking is essentially the same.
As I looked for information on the Quakers, the Hicks name kept reappearing. Isaac Hicks
(not Henry Hicks Sr.’s. father) was a prominent Quaker in New York, a merchant who died in
1820. He had a prominent and extended family within the Quaker community which included
Quaker Minister, Elias Hicks and Artist, Edward Hicks. Elias went on to lead reform from the
church in 1828 and formed his own branch which he called the “Hicksite”. I couldn’t find any
connection to my Valcartier family. Most of the Quakers in Canada came from the American
mid-west between the years 1790 and 1820. The only settlement that I could find near to
Quebec City was around Farnham where they did have “meeting houses” and a Quaker
graveyard. It is 200 plus kms. from Quebec City.

The religious part of their family life is sort of a mystery. All seem to have gradually converted
to the local Valcartier churches except Henry Sr. who remained with “the Society” until 1891,
the year he passed away at the age of 75. I might be missing something but I could not find
any Quakers or “meeting houses” in Valcartier or Quebec City, so he could have been on his
own. Quakers were well known for their simplicity and getting together to worship with other
“friends” in what they called “meeting houses”. The meeting houses were often their own
homes if the gathering was small. In his last known Will in 1878, he requested to be buried in
the graveyard belonging to the Church of Scotland in Valcartier with the least cost as
possible. It seems he held to Quaker traditions to the end.
I could not find a burial record for either Henry Sr. or Mary Ann Rolph. A stone was erected
by their son, Sam, in the Presbyterian churchyard in Valcartier in their memory.

In his last known Will, thirteen years before he died, he leaves a life insurance policy divided
equally among his children and an equal share to one granddaughter, Caroline. His books
are divided among his sons from his first marriage. Property in Valcartier which includes a
sawmill to his sons, Henry Jr., Edward and Samuel.

Even though he raised a large family in Valcartier, it seems that his main source of
employment was as a boiler maker in Quebec City along with his brothers-in-law, Jim and Joe
Rolph. Henry’s son, Samuel, carried on the tradition and worked as a boiler maker in Quebec
City for a number of years.

Henry and Mary Ann’s descendants who remained in Valcartier mostly became farmers or
worked in the farming industry. Many moved away and after a generation or two contact is
often lost. The daughters of Henry and Malvina Mecteau got married and moved away.
Henry Jr. and his wife, Mary Ann Richardson farmed and raised a large family in Valcartier
and were buried in the Presbyterian cemetery. Elizabeth married a cousin from England
(James Hicks) and eventually moved to Portneuf. George Rolph died at 79 years of age,
August 10, 1874 and was buried in the Church of England graveyard in St. Catherine. Ann
Nineham must have passed away before 1861 as she disappears from census records and
George identifies as a widower. It has been reported that Joe Rolph moved to the west coast
and the last contact with his family was in the San Diego area in California. Jim Rolph was
married and died in Valcartier and is buried in the Anglican cemetery. I visited the grave in
October. The inscription on the stone is James Rolp. They missed the H and there are no
dates. He passed away in 1896.

This article focuses on the first Hicks/Rolph family members that settled in Valcartier. I hope
to continue the story into the next generation.

Photos attached:
1. Henry Sr. (believed to be) family picture
2. Henry Sr. (believed to be) family picture
3. Picture of Joseph Hicks and Alice Hill (my great-grandparents) in front of their
home. The house still exists today.
4. Memory headstone for Henry Sr. and Mary Ann Rolph in Presbyterian cemetery in
Valcartier
5. Headstone for Henry Jr. and Mary Ann Richardson in Presbyterian cemetery
6. Headstone for James Rolph in Anglican Cemetery in Valcartier
7. Headstone for James and Elizabeth Hicks in Woodend Cemetery in Portneuf

Robert Hicks – February 2025