Pedro da Silva (postman)

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Signature of Pedro Da Silva

Pedro da Silva (* 1647 in Lisbon , Portugal ; † August 2, 1717 in Canada ) was Canada's first postman.

Life

Pedro da Silva was born in Lisbon in 1647. Occasionally, 1651 was also mentioned as a possible year of birth, but today 1647 is generally mentioned as the year of birth. Little is known about his subsequent life until he arrived in the French colony of New France , probably in 1672 or 1673 , and settled in what is now the Canadian province of Quebec . He worked as a messenger and was also called Pierre da Sylva or Pedro Dassylva. In 1677 he married Marie Jeanne Greslon, with whom he had 14 children. In 1681 the family moved to Beauport and later to Sault-au-Malot (today's parishes or quarters of the city of Québec ), where da Silva was increasingly involved in the transport of goods. He shipped goods to the entire colony via the nearby St. Lawrence River and accepted shipments. He received an increasingly good reputation as a reliable transporter of goods and shipments.

Death certificate Pedro da Silvas

What has come down to us is a mail delivery from Montreal to Quebec made by him for the price of 20 sols in 1693, which is sometimes referred to as Canada's first regular mail. In 1705 he was appointed by the government as the colony's first postman, and he was officially recognized for his punctuality and reliability, particularly in delivering official mail and government documents between key locations in New France. He was the only one who transported freight and mail across the St. Lawrence River during the Iroquois Wars.

Da Silva died on August 2, 1717, probably in connection with the fever epidemic in Quebec at the time.

reception

In 1938, a plaque was unveiled in the Montreal Main Post Office for Pedro da Silva, the country's first postman. On June 6, 2003, the Canadian Post Canada Post issued a stamp commemorating Pedro da Silva and his appointment as Royal Messenger of New France.

Da Silva's admirers and descendants maintain a page for him on Facebook .

On November 25, 2013, the documentary film Canada´s first postman and O Primeiro Carteiro do Canadá by the Canadian television director Bill Moniz premiered in an English and a Portuguese version . A French version under the title Pedro da Silva, le premier facteur du Canada was published shortly afterwards. The Portuguese-born director announced the erection of a statue of Pedro da Silva in Ottawa. Have worked on the film a. Francine Dassylva, a descendant of da Silva, and Carlos Taveira, a Canadian researcher of Portuguese descent who was already working on a comprehensive book on Pedro da Silva (published February 2014).

literature

  • Taveira, Carlos: Mots et Marées - Pedro da Silva un portugais messager du Roy en Nouvelle-France . Les Éditions l'Interligne, Ottawa 2014

Web links

Commons : Pedro da Silva  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Article of November 17, 2013 in the daily Jornal de Notícias , accessed on January 3, 2013
  2. ↑ Article about Pedro da Silva on page 3 of issue 235 of the monthly Portugal Post , January 2014
  3. ↑ Article on the first edition of the Pedro da Silva postage on June 6, 2003 ( Memento of the original from June 29, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. from Canada Post , accessed January 3, 2013 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.canadapost.ca
  4. ↑ Pedro da Silvas Facebook page , accessed January 3, 2014
  5. ↑ port. Article about the film premiere on the website of the Portuguese television channel TVI , accessed on January 3, 2014
personal data
SURNAME da Silva, Pedro
BRIEF DESCRIPTION first mail carrier in Canada
DATE OF BIRTH 1647
PLACE OF BIRTH Lisbon , Portugal
DATE OF DEATH August 2, 1717
Place of death Canada