Le Journal du Madawaska

Acadians and French Canadians began settling permanently along the St. John River as early as 1785, establishing distinct cross-border French-heritage institutions, but they were without their own newspaper until the twentieth century, when Thomas H. Pelletier and his son-in-law, lawyer Lévite-V. Thibodeau, founded the Compagnie du Journal du Madawaska in Van Buren, Maine. With Thibodeau managing business and Pelletier editing, Le Journal du Madawaska made its six-page, 36-column debut on 16 December 1902, with the motto "Pro Deo et Patria" ("For God and Country") and a mission to educate and instruct the local French-speaking population. While it did contain some articles in English, Le Journal was—and remains —the only French-language newspaper to have been published in Aroostook County.

Pelletier was born in New Brunswick in 1845. Following college in Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pocatière, Quebec, and medical school at Laval University, he began his medical practice in 1867 in Grand-Sault, New Brunswick, marrying and moving to Van Buren in 1869. Pelletier's daughter, Alma, married Thibodeau in 1898. Thibodeau was born in New Brunswick in 1868, educated at the Ricker Classical Institute in Houlton, Maine, and studied law in Caribou, Maine. He began to practice in Van Buren and was admitted to the bar in 1896. Besides his interests in law and journalism, Mr. Thibodeau was involved with the Van Buren Trust Company, the First National Bank of Van Buren Water District, and Van Buren Power and Light Company.

Initially, the weekly Journal contained one to two columns of editorials and twenty to twenty-five columns of regional, national, and international news, serial fiction, letters, humor, and advertisements. By summer 1903, claiming 2,000 subscribers and 10,000 readers, Pelletier and Thibodeau were successful enough to purchase their own press. On 23 December 1903, the Journal expanded to eight pages with six columns per page, the format maintained through the end of 1905, except for a few six-page issues.

Pelletier edited his last issue on 13 December 1905 and was succeeded by Avila Oscar Boulay, another doctor, who had founded the short-lived French-language weekly newspaper La Sentinelle in Waterville, Maine, in 1897. Boulay soon relocated to Wallagrass, Maine, and in October 1905, he set up practice in Van Buren. He appears to have left Van Buren by 1910.

The latter part of 1905 was difficult for Le Journal du Madawaska and its editor, Pelletier. There were signs of financial problems, waning subscriptions, and internal power struggles. Pelletier even solicited his readers for assistance in editing the paper. In November, his health in decline, he sold his share of the paper to Thibodeau. Pelletier died in Van Buren on 19 July 1921. Le Journal ceased publication in 1906 for reasons that are unclear. One contemporary source cited Pelletier's ill health as the primary factor; another source suggested financial failure.

Deposited on paper at the Aroostook County Courthouse in Houlton, Le Journal was discovered by Madawaska lawyer Joel Leblanc in 1978, who worked with the Madawaska Historical Society, the University of Maine at Fort Kent, and the Acadian Archives/Archives acadiennes to preserve Le Journal on microfilm.