Jacques Viger

French-Canadian antiquarian and archaeologist, b. at Montreal, 7 May, 1787; d. 12 Dec., 1858. He studied at the Sulpician college of Montreal. During the war of 1812 he served as captain in the "Voltigeurs" under de Salaberry. He was elected the first Mayor of Montreal (1833), and strove to improve its sanitary condition. Although he wrote little, his reputation as an archaeologist was universal, and the greatest contemporary historians of France and the United States have drawn from his collection of manuscripts, the fruit of forty years research. He compiled a chronicle under the title of "Sabretache" (28 vols.), wherein he gathered plans, maps, portraits, with valuable notes illustrating many contested historical points. He was the founder of the "Historical Society of Montreal". Pius IX honoured him with the knighthood of the Order of St. Gregory the Great.