Henriette Dessaulles

Henriette Dessaulles (February 6, 1860 – November 17, 1946), also known by the pen name Fadette, was a Canadian journalist and diarist from Quebec. An important pioneer of women's writing in Quebec, she is best known for her longtime column in Le Devoir and for her childhood diaries which were posthumously published in 1971.

She was born in Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec to Georges-Casimir Dessaulles, at the time the town's mayor and later a member of the Legislative Assembly of Quebec and the Senate of Canada, and Émilie Mondelet. Jean Dessaulles was her paternal grandfather, Dominique Mondelet was her maternal grandfather, and Louis-Joseph Papineau was her godfather.

From 1874, when aged 14, Dessaulles began writing a diary while being educated at convent school. She continued until 1881, when she married Maurice St-Jacques, with whom she went on to have seven children before his death in 1897. At the time of St-Jacques' death, he was a Quebec Liberal Party candidate for the electoral district of Saint-Hyacinthe in the 1897 provincial election; Dessaulles' father was nominated in his place, and won the seat.