| Notes |
- Claude (1st Gen.)
Claude Bouchard, son of Jacques Bouchard and Noelle Touschard, was born in Saint-Cosme-de-Vair, France, in 1626. Saint-Cosme-de-Vair was a community in the Department of the Sarthe, in Perche, and comprised seven parishes. Claude considered himself to be from the parish of Notre-Dame. He died on November 25, 1699 at the age of 73.
- Why "Le Petit" ?
There were actually 6 or 7 different Bouchards who came to Canada (New France) in the seventeenth century. Two of them were named "Claude" Bouchard. One of these was a doctor (a surgeon) who came from Picardy. In order to differentiate the two the doctor was referred to as "Claude dit d'Orval" and the other as "Le Petit Claude". This latter listed his occupation as tailor (un Taileur d'habits). His surname, which means "The Small Claude", must have been because he was of smaller stature than the other Claude. This nickname, however, certainly was not merited when it came to his progeny, having 12 children of his own (6 boys and 6 girls) as a result of his union with Louise Gagne, whom he married in Beaupre in 1654. Fortunate indeed that he had 12 children, as my ancestor was the twelfth child in the family.
- His coming to New France
In order to understand the occasion of Claude's coming to New France (Canada) one needs to have at least a brief understanding of the colony and how the powers in France at the time (Louis XIII and Louis XIV, along with the latter's Minister for the colonies Jean Baptiste Colbert) went about the business of colonizing the new land. From the beginning of the colony it was intended that the social order in New France should rest upon a seignorial basis. This was a system of land tenure, a method of apportioning land and bringing it into production while avoiding the evils of speculation. Title to all the land in the colony rested in the king, who would grant concessions to seigneurs on the condition that they get their land cleared and made productive. This required, as part of their grant agreement with the crown, that the seigneurs enlist and establish settlers on their lands, as well as build a mill for the settlers' use, and also maintain a court of law to settle minor disputes.
A seigneur was not a landlord as we understand that term today. He had obligations and responsibilities both to the crown and to his settlers, and the authorities saw to it that he fulfilled them. The same applied to the settlers. The seigneur was actually little more than a land settlement agent and his finanacial rewards were not great. eing a seigneur was still something to be eagerly sought after since it gave one greatly enhanced social status, and this was manifested in a variety of ways.
For their part these settlers, or "censitaires" as they were known (although "habitants" is what they preferred to call themselves), were required to clear the lands granted them by the seigneurs, and were also obligated to pay modest dues (rents) in return. There were other modest requirements imposed on the settlers in return for the land concessions, which could be revoked if one did not fulfill his obligations. A settler could eventually own his concession to the point where he could even sell it, although if he sold it to anyone other than a direct heir he had to pay 1/12 of the sale price to the seigneur, and the latter also then had the right to buy the land at the price offered by the would-be purchaser within forty days of the sale. When land was sold, what the seller received was, in essence, not the worth of the land but compensation for the improvements he had
made on it. This acted as a curb on land speculation.
One of the first seigneurs who fulfilled his trust to the letter was a named Robert Giffard. Monsieur Giffard, a doctor who had come to New France in 1627, was able to recruit several settlers beginning in 1632 (30 to 40 persons in 1632, and approximately the same number in 1635). Between 1635 and 1663 he was able to recruit an additional 50 or so persons, and this is where our Claude comes into the picture.
Claude Bouchard, a tailor, born in 1626, was from the Province of the Maine, a native of Saint-Cosme-de-Vair. As I understand it this place was actually in Perche, an area administered by the Province of the Maine at the time. His father was Jacques Bouchard and his mother was named Noelle Touschard. We know nothing of his youth except that he was a member of Notre Dame parish in his home town. We do know that he made a living as a tailor (un Taileur d'habits).
We find Claude, in March of 1650, present at the White Horse Inn (Hotel du Cheval Blanc), situated on the road leading to Rouperoux, attending a conference being given by Monsieur Giffard who was looking for volunteers to emigrate to New France. Claude, and a friend named Julien Fortin, volunteered to go. They put their affairs in order and sometime after embarked for New France. It is recorded in a certain Jesuit journal that Monsieur Giffard's vessel arrived on the 14th of July, but does not give the year. It may have been 1650, but then some believe it was 1652. In any event, a sizeable group of Bouchards were present at the White Horse Inn, in Saint-Cosme-de-Vair in 1952, to unveil a plaque commemorating the 300th anniversary of the departure of their ancestor Claude Bouchard for New France. I nonetheless accept as fact that Claude arrived in New France on July 14, 1650, because of other dates one comes accross in the telling of his story.
Upon arriving, Claude and his friend Julien went to the seigneury de Beauport (situated between where Quebec stands today and the Mount Morency Falls to the north) to secure food and lodging. It appears that Claude had come with some funds of his own (being his father's heir as well as an accomplished tailor) and had come to New France not as an indentured servant but rather under the protection of Monsieur Giffard with some freedom to travel, which he did. We next find him, on October 26, 1650, in the office of Oliver Letardif, agent for the seigneurie de Beaupre, for the purpose of buying a tract of land with one fifth of a mile fronting on the river and about five miles deep into the interior. This tract was located about three miles northeast of where the church of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupre stands today. Three years later, on October 1, 1653, Claude wanted to sell this tract to a Louis Guimond, but the sale was not approved (as it had to be, by the royal charter company) until October 1, 1657, for which he received 600 livres, a fair sum in its day, which amounted to approximately $1,200 in 1968 Canadian currency.
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1626 - 1699 (73 years)
