McGill Library
McLennan Library Building3459 rue McTavish
Montreal, Quebec
H3A 0C9
Eberts Family Fonds
Fonds
1.2 m of textual records ; 533 photographs ; 7 negatives
Hermann Melchior Eberts (1753-1819), a descendant of Austrian nobility, was born in Augsburg and trained as a physician. He enlisted as surgeon in the Hanau Regiment, which was hired by the British Government to fight the rebellious Thirteen Colonies, but after spending a year stationed in Quebec, he obtained his discharge. He practised medicine in the Montreal area until 1790, and then moved to Detroit, where, from 1796 to 1798, he acted as coroner and sheriff of Wayne County. In 1805, Eberts moved with his family to Sandwich (Windsor) in Upper Canada. Hermann Joseph Eberts (1842-1906), one of his great grand-children, was born at Chatham, educated at the High School department of McGill College, received training in law, and held various business positions in Chatham and Winnipeg. H. J. Eberts’ eldest son, Edward Melchior (1873-1945), graduated in Medicine at McGill University in 1897, did postgraduate work in London, and then held various positions, most notably that of surgeon, at the Montreal General Hospital. After 1905 he also taught surgery at McGill, rising to the level of Full Professor in 1929. He had five children, including Hermann Livingston Eberts (1905-1982), a Montreal businessman and engineer, who graduated from the Royal Military College and McGill University with a B.Sc. in 1929, and Edmond Howard Eberts (born 1906), who received his B.C.L. at McGill in 1931, after serving as President of the Law Undergraduate Society.
This fonds reflects the Eberts family history, was assembled mainly by Hermann Joseph Eberts, Edmund Melchior Eberts and Hermann Livingstone Eberts. Half of the fonds consist mainly of family correspondence, mostly dating from 1877 to 1982, addressed either to H. J. Eberts, E. M. Eberts, H. L. Eberts or their respective spouses. In addition, there is a copy of H.M. Eberts will (1819) and a letter concerning the estate of his wife Marie-Francoise Hue (1826). This collection also contains several copies of letters of nobility granted to Jacob Friederich Eberts in 1658, Hermann Melchior Eberts’ original of Army Discharge (1777), a notebook (1810-1838) belonging to Joseph Eberts (1785-1838), H. J. Eberts’ diary (1861), a variety of legal documents including deeds of sale, wills, birth and marriage certificates, mortgage documents, as well as school reports. Included is also H. M. Eberts’ licence to practice medicine in Quebec (1788), and documents relating to H. M. Eberts in his role as Sheriff of Wayne County, Michigan (1796-1798). In addition, there are genealogical trees, newspaper clippings, and publications relating to the background of the family, as well as a 288 page typescript history of the family written by E. M. Eberts in 1944. Lastly, this collection contains family photographs (1890-1980) and army photographs (1924-1939, 1960’s).
Transferred from McCord Museum in May 1984
Box Listing available
Handwritten and typescript