The bilingual son of an English-Canadian mother, Julia Ann MacPherson Le Moine, and a French-Canadian father, Benjamin Le Moine, James MacPherson Le Moine devoted much of his life to recording the history, folklore, and natural features of Quebec in more than fifty volumes and pamphlets, the majority of them in English. His popular books of legends and anecdotes acquainted English-speaking readers with the romantic side of French Canada and inspired the writing of many historical romances, among them William Kirby's The Chien D'or. The Golden Dog (1877). A desultory chronicler rather than a systematic historian, Le Moine nonetheless won the friendship of Francis Parkman and in 1897 he was knighted for his literary services.

Le Moine was born in Quebec City on 24 January 1825. His father, a descendant of one of the few noble families to settle in New France in the seventeenth century, died when James was three years old...