Wednesday, March 20, 2019 — 7:30 p.m., Nova Scotia Archives
Invisible Victims: The Trial for the Murders of the Emoneau Family of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia in 1791
Kenneth S. Paulsen
Bunker Hill Community College
Abstract:
This paper will explore the murders of the Emoneau Family at Lunenburg, Nova Scotia in 1791. On 19 March 1791, Frédéric Emoneau, his wife Juliana Elisabetha Frankin and their granddaughter Catherine Elizabeth Emoneau were murdered by their godson George Frederick Boutelier and his brother John Boutelier. The murders were the first to occur in the township of Lunenburg since its founding in 1753. The trial for the murders is unusual in that the Boutelier brothers were tried for the murder of Frédéric Emoneau. Elisabetha and Catherine Elizabeth Emoneau are not mentioned by name during the trail. Elisabetha Emoneau and her granddaughter are obliquely mentioned during the trial without naming them. They are largely invisible despite the acknowledgement that they had been murdered along with Frédéric Emoneau. Under British common law, women had no legal personality. The paper will examine the circumstances of the disappearance and invisibility of these two women in the trial.
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