THE JESUIT PEAR TREE

It is believed that Jesuit missionaries brought the first pear trees from France and that they planted them by the thousands all along the local waterways. These magnificent trees produced enormous yields of small sweet pears up to forty bushels per tree. Some settlers planted the trees in groups of twelve, to represent the twelve apostles. Still found along both sides of the Detroit River, these pear trees mark sites of early French settlement.

A Detroit widow had been entrusted in the care of her brother in law, a miserable, miserly man. The poor widow and her children barely got enough to eat and were for all intents and purposes prisoners of this tyrant. One night, during a storm, the widow attempted to escape. Her jailer caught up with her in the orchard, underneath the pear trees. The widow raised her arms towards the heavens and cried out: " I call these twelve trees, which are named after the Apostles, to witness my wrongs. May your property be swept away, your cows refuse to give milk, and you yourself be haunted by me and my children. You have defrauded the widow and the orphan; you have starved them to death and broken a solemn promise to the dead.

The pear tree under which you stand will be shunned by its comrades, and like Judas, stand alone..." The curse was borne out. The miser died alone and poor, after having lost his animals, his mill and his land. Not long afterwards, his neighbours noticed that one of the pear trees Judas now stood alone, mysteriously separated from the others.

See more photos of the pear tree

Read the articles of the Detroit Free Press (Article 1- Article 2)

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