Biography Tremblay Laurent-Bruno

THE EARLY SETTLERS OF
TROMBLY'S BAY

BY MISS FRANCES Anderson
Among the early settlers in Chazy was Bruno Trombly, who came here from Canada at the close of the Revolutionary war in 1786. In those days, as we all know, travel by water was not accomplished with the comfort and rapidity as at the present time and the only way of travel was by canoe or small boat. Mr. Trombly was a native of Bay St. Paul, near Quebec. He, with his family, embarked in a canoe and proceeded through the rivers to Lake Champlain. He settled near what is now know as Saxe's Landing, on the little point south of the dock. There seems to be no trace of the house left. There were two families living there at that time, John La Frombois, (who was the first permanent white settler in the county) and a man by the name of Huot. Mr. Trombly was very friendly with the Indians, trapping with them for many years, acting as their friend and adviser till they forced to give up their homes and lands to the white settler, which no doubt caused not a little sorrow on leaving forever the shores of the beautiful lake. This old pioneer, by hard labor brought up a family of ten children, nine sons and one daughter. The elder boys (who were Mr. Lawrence Trombly's uncles) took an active part in the war of 1812. John B., the eldest of the boys (who was my grandfather's father) was ten years of age when his father came to this country and it is owing to his help that they succeeded in clearing up the land and providing for the large family.

In 1803, at the age of 27, John Trombly married Miss Marney of Rouses Point, which was then a settlement of only a few families, and soon after settled about one and one-half miles south of Chazy Landing, at the beautiful bay which bears his narne. Here he built a small log cabin in which his family of eleven children were born and brought up. This log cabin, now nearly a century old, still stands near the large stone house built by John Trombly in 1827, and is now owned by Lawrence Trombly, his youngest living son, who was seven years of age at the time his present home was built by his father. John Trombly (my grandfather's father) became very wealthy and was a prominent and widely known man in his days. He owned large tracts of land between his home and Monty's Bay. He entertained many travelers and emigrants who were making their way to the States. During the war of 1837 (sometimes called the Patriot war) his home was opened to the defeated Canadian soldiers, where they secured food and shelter. Many a time his large stone house was filled with the refugees who would have fared badly had they fallen into the hands of the British. During the long winter evenings, I have often listened to the stories which my grandfather loves to tell about old times and incidents which happened during his childhood.

It was a very familiar sight (when my great-grandfather came to this country) to see the Indian camps all around. Their favorite camping ground was on the sand beach and on the point where Mr. Jones' cottage now stands, also on Robarge and Wool's points. The Indians were on friendly terms with the white people and would often come to the houses for milk and other articles of food for their families. My grandfather's mother often told how she once tried to buy a silk handkerchief from an Indian women, who with her little child bad come to her house to buy food. The Indian baby was wrapped in the handkerchief, which was a handsome one, but on offering money, even more than the article was really worth to the mother, she could not be induced to part with it, as she kept it to wrap around her children for baptism.

The style of dress was very simple in those days, and once a year the father would buy a piece of goods, also some leather to make up into clothes and sboes for the children, The tailor and shoemaker went from house to house as the dressmaker of today, remaining until each of the boys had a new outfit, which would be expected to last until the next year. When the farmers decided to go to mill each of the men would take as much grain as he could carry and start out in a canoe or bv a little path through the wilderness to Plattsburgh, that being the nearest mill. john B.Trombly lived to the good old age of 72. Manv of his descendants are living here and in adjoining towns and are counted among our respectable citizens who are justly proud of belonging to one of the oldest families in Clinton county
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

1798 Tax Assessment for northern New York

Bruno Trembly, (Kelly & Com'y, owners), 100 acres adjoining Chandonet on the Lake Shore. One Log house ($50). $650.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Laurent-Bruno Tremblay, son of Louis Tremblay and Brigitte Fortin, was born April 26, 1749, at Petite Rivière Saint-François. He was just 8 years old, when his father died. The peaceful times in New France were coming to an end.

The British were slowly closing in on the French colony. Hudson Bay and Acadia fell under British control and by the spring of 1759, Fort Frontenac at the entrance to Lake Ontario and Fort Ticonderoga and Crown Point on Lake Champlain all flew the British flag. The French had responded by raising a militia formed of Canadians and about a thousand Indian warriors, in addition to the French troops under Generals Montcalm and Lévis.

In the late spring of 1759, the British fleet arrived at the Gulf of Saint Laurence under the command of General James Wolfe. The British proceeded to terrorize the settlements along the river throughout the summer and General Wolfe chose Ile-aux-Coudres, opposite Baie Saint-Paul for the base of his operations.

On the order of Governor de Vaudreuil of Quebec, ten families were evacuated from the island to take refuge on the mainland, including, no doubt, cousins of Laurent-Bruno, whose fathers were among the original settlers there. Serving in the militia in the area, were Étienne Tremblay, Seigneur des Éboulements, age 70, son of Pierre II, as well as his brothers Louis, Jean, François Xavier, Augustin, Joseph and others of their generation. Two younger generations were represented as well, as every able-bodied man in Baie Saint Paul, les Éboulements and the Coast of François Xavier rose to the cause. Among them would have been Laurent-Bruno's brothers, Jacques, age 32, Louis Marie, 28, Mathieu, 24, André, 22 and Pierre François, 18.

In the month of July, General Montcalm sent a battalion to Baie Saint-Paul along with some artillery in order to prevent an invasion by the Englishmen. In addition to the French soldiers, he sent 150 militiamen and 100 Abénaquis warriors. Trenches were dug in the sand at the edge of the forest where the artillery was installed.

On August 1, the English attempted a landing, descending and burning everything at Pointe des Aulnes at the lower end of the bay. They were repelled, but not before they had killed one Canadian militiaman and taken two prisoners. The parish records state that Charles Desmeules was killed and scalped on August 1, 1759 at 9 o'clock in the morning, by Englishmen who set fire to the woods. Residents of the Ile aux Coudres and Baie Saint Paul attended his funeral ceremony.

"Killed and scalped by the Englishmen" describes the brutality of this war, but what happened next confirms it:

...as for the prisoners, they became the pawns of the sailors. Tremblay was tied to the mainmast and was repeatedly stabbed with spears before being thrown to his death in the river.
The same fate waited Grenon; but Grenon, known as "Fort," was not just a plain ordinary man. His Herculean strength along with his exploits were already legendary in Québec. The sailors tied him up and started to torture him, but Grenon, though mad with rage, didn't flinch. He managed to free his hands and slammed his attacker to his death on the bridge. This demonstration of his strength so amazed the British sailors that they were dumbstruck and he was allowed to escape.

The Tremblay who lost his life in this incident isn't further identified, but, would have been an uncle, cousin, or perhaps even an older brother of 10-year-old, Laurent-Bruno, who would, fifteen years later, marry the niece of Jean Baptiste Grenon dit "Le Fort."

Unsuccessful skirmishes continued throughout the summer until, before dawn on the morning of September 13, General Wolfe tried a new tactic. Under cover of darkness, he landed five thousand British soldiers at Cap Diamant, on the back side of the fort at Québec City. Here they scaled high, almost perpendicular cliffs to reach the Plains of Abraham above. The French soldiers were taken by complete surprise and the ensuing battle
______________________________________________________________
Marriage, 24 August 1775, Les Ecureuils (PRDH online site):
Bruno Tremble, res. St-Pierre-de-la-Baie-St-Paul, son of Louis Tremble and Brigitte Fortin
to
Marie Francoise Vendal, res. St-Francois-de-Sales, Seigneurie de Pointe-aux-Trembles, daughter of Francois Vendal and Marie Francois Grenon
Witnesses:
Louis Tremble brother of the groom
Andre Tremble brother of the groom
Nicolas Faucher stepfather of the bride
Francois Vendal brother of the bride
Augustin Vendal brother of the bride
_________________________________________

Laurent Bruno Trombly was born on 15 Aug 1735 in Bay St Paul, QC. He died in 1821 in Chazy, Clinton Co., NY.

He was in "Hazen's Regiment" during the American Revolution. One list has him on the rolls at Yorktown.

From the book "A History of the Town of Chazy, Clinton County, New York" compiled by Nell J.B. Sullivan and David K.Martin. pub. 1970. p.52
"...Although they are not listed here in the 1790 census, the Tromblys are said to have settled in Chazy as early as 1786.* [Footnote says "It seems more likely that they arrived here after 1790 rather than before."} Laurent Bruno Trombly , the first of the name, was born at Bay St. Paul near Quebec on August 15th 1735. He served in the American Army during the Revolution and was a pensioner and a recipient of bounty land for his services. After the war, he returned to Canada and later, with his wife and children, paddled in a canoe up the Richelieu River and Lake Champlain as far as Chazy. He settled on a little point just south of the site of Sax's stone store at the Landing, where he built a one room log cabin. As long ago as 1898 there was no trace left of this house. The assessment of 1798 credits him with 100 acres and a log house next to Chandonet. The two Framboise families and Ayott were also his neighbors. During the Indian Summer season there were also Indians who camped on Wool's Point and Robarge's Point.
Bruno Trombly made the acquaintance of the Indians and hunted and fished with them for many years. He died in Chazy in 1821

transmis par M. Bouchard #58677