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ought to light by the strenuous efforts
of M. Des Jardins to circumvent the dire
threatenings of poverty was a manifested
literary capacity of much merit, though
his literary power has been neglected in
his inventions, which, particularly those
having bearing on the printing trade, have
been such as to accentuate the encouragement
the narration of his early days of
trial and the causes responsible for his
ultimate success will afford would-be in-
ventors who labor under similar handi-
caps.
Benjamin Myrrick Des Jardins was
born in the town of Tyre, Michigan, on
October 10, 1858, son of Gregoir and
Marie (Trudeau) Des Jardins, and grandson
of Zacharie Des Jardins, who was
one of the early settlers of the Province
of Quebec, Canada. Historical records
authenticate the statement that the Des
Jardins family was of French extraction,
and of titled lineage. The activities of
the progenitor of the American branches
of the family were confined to Canadian
soil, and many of his descendants have
found prominent place in Canadian his-
tory. Zacharie Des Jardins, the grand-
ancestor of the American branches of the
line, was a successful and highly regarded
farmer and community leader at St. Ther-
ese de Blainville, a village about seventeen
miles distant from Montreal. He
was a man of strong personality and su-
perior intellect, and took an active part
in the Canadian Rebellion, aligning his
sympathies with the public movement
which sought to revolutionize adminis-
trative balance, so as to secure the in-
auguration of remedial measures to counteract
the effect of past governmental
abuses.
His son, Gregoir Des Jardins, father of
Benjamin M. Des Jardins, was, however,
of different disposition to that which
characterized his father; he was a man of
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ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
gy
profound thought on matters of religion,
and of strong conviction, independently
manifested by his secession from the
church of his forebears, and adoption of
Protestantism. The activities and prom-
inence of the Des Jardins within the
church of Rome had been so historic, that
the severance of allegiance by one of
its scions accentuated the act, and even-
tually wrought disaster to the business
affairs of Gregoir Des Jardins. An estimate
of the standing of the Des Jardins
family within the Roman Catholic church
may be gauged by the position of one of
its members, Alphonse T. C. Des Jardins,
a Canadian journalist, editor of "L'Ordre,"
and later president of Le Credit Fonder
du bas Canada, who took active part
in organizing the Canadian Papal Zouave
contingent, which went to assist the Pope
in 1868, and who in 1872 was created a
knight of the order of Pius IX. Gregoir
Des Jardins was forced to leave the home
of his father, and the companionship of
people of his own native tongue, and he
sought a less perturbed environment
within the United States, entering what
was virtually the wilderness when he
settled in the vicinity of Tyre, Huron
county, Michigan. He no doubt exper-
ienced difficulties similar to those en-
countered by most other pioneers of civ-
ilization, and early settlers, and no doubt
his efforts and example produced an effect
in creating within his son, Benjamin
M., the admirable qualities of resistance
he later exhibited. Also his son's me-
chanical ability may be attributed in
some measure to the mechanical ingenu-
ity developed in his father by the necessities
of the primitive conditions under
which they lived. It has been authenti-
cated that Gregoir Des Jardins possessed
considerable mechanical ability, and that
the humble frontier home of his family
was equipped with many original labor-