Object Status:
Extant
Accession Date:
N.d.
Primary Source Reference:
Du Simitière Papers, Library Company of Philadelphia, Box 5, folder 2; Box 6, folder 18
Notes:
The Lièvre River ("River of the Hares") in western Quebec flows south into the Ottawa River at Masson-Angers.
The 16-page journal and two-page map are by an unidentified traveler, perhaps the donor. In May 1781 Du Simitière received from Mercier "A small collection of Fossils from the environs of the river des lievres or des outawais in canada" (Memorandum Books, fol. 59r).
The donor may have been the John Mercier who was master of the brigantine William in 1776 and a volunteer with the Charleston battery who became a prisoner of war following the successful British siege of Charleston in the spring of 1780. See Benjamin Lincoln to George Washington, 25 Jan 1781, Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-04655. [This is an Early Access document from The Papers of George Washington]; and https://awiatsea.com/pl/am/American%20Prizes%20January%201776/William%2…
