page_title: James McGill
section_title: Family life and Burnside Place
hierarchical_section_title: James McGill / Family life and Burnside Place
caption_attribution_description: English: Charlotte Trottier Desrivieres, born 1723, daughter of Julien Trottier dit Desrivieres (1687 - 1737), of Montreal
context_page_description: James McGill was a Scottish businessman, slaveowner and philanthropist best known for being the founder of McGill University, Montreal. He was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada for Montreal West in 1792 and was appointed to the Executive Council of Lower Canada in 1793. He was the honorary Lieutenant-Colonel of the 1st Battalion, Montreal Militia, a predecessor unit of The Canadian Grenadier Guards. He was also a prominent member of the Château Clique and one of the original founding members of the Beaver Club. His summer home stood within the Golden Square Mile.
context_section_description: In 1776, James McGill married Marie-Charlotte (1747-1818), the widow of Joseph-Amable Trottier Desrivières (1732-1771). Educated at the Ursuline Convent, Quebec, she was the daughter of Guillaume Guillimin (1713-1750), Member of the Sovereign Council of New France and Judge of the Courts of Admiralty. Her mother, Marie-Geneviève Foucault, was the daughter of François Foucault (1690-1766), the owner of one of the largest seigneuries in New France and a member of the Sovereign Council. McGill had previously adopted Charlotte, the youngest daughter of his deceased friend John Porteous, and through his marriage (after the death of their uncle and legal guardian) he became the step-father of two sons,
  Lt.-Col. François-Amable Trottier Desrivières (1764-1830), J.P., was particularly close to McGill and became like a son to him, following him into business with the firm of McGill & Todd. He married his first cousin, Marguerite-Thérèse Trottier Desrivières-Beaubien. On McGill's death he received £23,000 and a substantial amount of land in Stanbridge.
  Lt. Thomas-Hippolyte Trottier Desrivières (b.1769). McGill purchased a commission for him into the 60th Royal American Regiment, but he predeceased his step-father in a "foolish" duel fought with a fellow German officer while on service in Jamaica. When the German boasted of his death to Desrivières' friend, Charles de Salaberry, after finishing his breakfast, the French-Canadian challenged the German. After a long, obstinate contest fought with swords, the much younger de Salaberry killed the "rough bully" who had murdered his friend. Desrivières had married the sister of Joseph Bouchette and was the father of James McGill Trottier Desrivières, who inherited £60,000 from McGill and married a daughter of Joseph Frobisher.
  In 1777, at Montreal, McGill purchased the former home of the Baron de Becancourt for his new family on Notre-Dame Street, next to the Château Ramezay. In about 1797, he was said to have purchased the farm he called Burnside which he used as a summer home. Burnside was near a farm belonging to the Desrivières family to the east, and the McTavish estate to the north and west. A burn ran through the property, from which McGill gave it its name. The land was used for orchards, vegetable farming and cattle-grazing. In 1787, an elm took root in the upper meadow of Burnside which grew into the Founder's Elm and survived until 1976 when it became dangerous and had to be felled.
  Burnside was a gentleman's country house as opposed to a working farmhouse. The ground floor was taken up with servants' rooms, with a kitchen at the front and cellars going into the hill at the back. Steps led up to the front door and into the entrance hall with spacious front rooms on either side. Each of the two front rooms had three windows facing south. The high sloping roof had dormer windows for the third floor rooms, of which only two (each measuring twenty four square feet) had ceilings, while the rest of the area was a large open attic.
caption: Charlotte Trottier Desrivières (b.1723), the aunt of McGill's stepsons; daughter-in-law of Jacques Testard de Montigny
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