This tobacco grinder was a household tool that was used to finally chop dried tobacco leaves. The fragments were then used by packing them into the end of a smoking pipe in the part called the chamber; the tobacco could also be rolled up in cigarette paper to be smoked. An eyelet screwed into the end of the wooden platform can be observed which made it possible to hang the tool on the wall when not in use.

This antique tool belonged to Victor Marie Lord, who did his apprenticeship as a typographer with Ed. Sicard de Carufel, who ran a printing and bookbinding workshop in Trois-Rivières. Furthermore, one of Victor’s sisters, Gratia (Gracia), was married to Josaphat Duval, who worked in a tobacco factory.

Born in Trois-Rivières on April 27, 1874, Victor M. Lord was baptized “Marie Victor” two days after his birth at the parish church by vicar J. N. Tessier. The registers record his family name as “Lor,” without the “d.” Marie Victor’s mother was named Marguerite Caillé (Cayer), and his father was also named Victor. The latter was a day labourer.

Victor Marie Lord left Canada in 1904. He left to settle in Salem, Massachusetts in the United States. He obtained American citizenship in 1912.

On September 12, 1918, when the registration of his form was approved by the Salem Exemption Board, the First World War was still ongoing. Victor M. Lord was already married. His wife was named Blanche Francoeur. They had a son first: Victor R. (1919). At that time, Victor Marie was 45 years old, and Blanche was 29. They had two other children together: Blanche (1922) and Paul. E. (1924).

After Blanche Francoeur’s death, Victor Marie Lord got married again, this time to Élodie Marie Berthe Duchesneau (1880-1960), a native of Acton Vale, in Montérégie, Quebec, who also lived in the United States.

Victor M. Lord died in Salem in 1963.

Donation from Victor R. Lord
Musée Pierre-Boucher Collection
1984 860 I