GENERATION 1

ZACHARIE CLOUTIER and SAINTE DUPONT

Our ancestor Zacharie Cloutier, the first Cloutier arrived in Canada, was born around 1590.

He married Sainte Dupont, the widow of Michel Lermusier at Saint-Jean church in Mortagne

widow followed him on July 13th, 1680.

The first two future settlers to accept Robert Giffard’s call were tradesmen in an important

basic trade: Jean Guyon was master mason and Zacharie Cloutier was master carpenter, each

with a family of five young children.

Mathurin Roussel tying him to Robert Giffard and agreeing to come to Canada with his

eldest son Zacharie II, almost 17 years old. According to the contract, they would work for

him for three years and leave for Canada alone. Robert Giffard would have Sainte Dupont

and the rest of the family brought across in 1636. But on departure day, some families were

commitments of the contract were kept4. In fact, he found no evidence or traces of the

Robert Giffard, Sieur de Moncel and de Beauport had received his “Seignerie de Beauport”

by 4 leagues (19.9 km) long, located from the Beauport River going east to the Montmorency

River and from the St. Lawrence River to the north. In Zacharie Cloutier’s hiring contract

was included the grant of a back fief which he later named La Clousterie.

The departure from Mortagne took place at the beginning of April 1634. The travelers piled

up in large carts filled with supplies, a few pieces of furniture, tools, family keepsakes and

they meet with Jean Juchereau, Sieur de Maure, his wife Marie Langlois and their three

children. A few bachelors who must think that they have nothing to loose made up the rest of

the group.

Such a sea trip could be long and difficult. The ships were small – measuring between 37 and

57 m long on the average – and uncomfortable. They took about two months on the average

to cross from France to Québec city often fighting winds and currents. The passengers

“brought with them a trunk or a chest containing their clothes, sometimes a straw mattress,

crammed into dark and smelly quarters, tossed about by the rolling of the ship, harassed by

seasickness and forced to a difficult crowding and lack of privacy. Food was biscuits in the

morning, soup at noon and meat or fish at night. The meat came from animals and fowls

taken alive on board. The fish was salted or fresh if the sailors managed to catch some. Often

the drinking water got stale during the crossing. Once in a while wine made up for the lack of

good water while the sailors might be treated to brandy. Otherwise, fresh water was deemed

too precious to “waste” on personal ablution or on washing of clothing.9

“After a long crossing but without incident, our ancestors’ ship arrived in front of the Québec

wonder”.10

Seigneur Robert Giffard. After three years his contract ran out and he obtained his promised

that, free of his time, he could accept the work than he wanted. He worked at building the

parish church of Québec city and on the Saint-Louis Fort. He did work for the nuns on their

convents. He worked on a house for Guillaume Couillard; with Noël Langlois, he provided

planks and boards to the Compagnie des Cent-Associés. He agreed by contract to build a

house for Zacharie Maheu. He also agreed to build the frame of a house for Mathieu Hubou

dit Deslongchamps. All the while, he cleared and cultivated the land of his fief11.

This back fief was a piece of land measuring 693 square arpents (237 hectares), that is 5.5

arpents in front (322 m) by 126 arpents in length (7.4 km), located between the land of the

Widow of Jean Côté and the back fief Dubuisson of Jean Guyon. A transfer tax in accordance

with the Vexin-le-François Custom had to be paid to the Seigneur de Beauport with the

additional charge of 50 sols of gold. The owner Zacharie Cloutier retained the whole fief for

his use. The limits of the fief were the north shore of the St. Lawrence River to the south and

the Montmorency River to the north. See the map XXXXX.

In 1670, Zachary Cloutier having reached old age, sold his back fief to Nicholas Dupont. His

wife and him went to live with one of their sons in Château-Richer.13

and she was buried the next day at the same place.

Life in many aspects was completely different in New France from what the immigrants were

used to in their former country. Voltaire has written about this country of almost perpetual

snow and ice. Rabelais has mentioned colds that would freeze the words at the mouth of the

sailors, words that would only be heard in the spring when they would thaw out… These wellknown

and imaginative authors had unfortunately not come to see for themselves. More

seriously, the Jesuit missionary Father Vimont wrote that the Canadian cold was healthier and

more bearable than France’s humidity. Also, Denis-Joseph Ruette, Sieur d’Auteuil who lived

in Québec city for about 20 years praised the economic usefulness of the snow and the ice for

forest exploitation and for communications. In winter, the ice provides bridges on rivers and

lakes and the snow allows an ox or a horse to pull loads four times larger than in summer.

Still, the French settlers had to make important changes to their ways and habits to adjust to

their new country.

The houses resembled those of France, but the slope of the roofs was increased to avoid snow

accumulation in winter. The craftsmen could do well using wood but stone, in spite of its

higher cost was mostly used because of fire danger from ever-present fireplaces, oil lamps and

candles. Insulation was improved.

The first settlers “brought only clothes in a trunk. It was impossible except for persons of

quality to bring the furniture they owned in France. However, the Governors, the Church

people, high-ranking civil servants and the ladies founders of hospitals and of convents

brought furniture, such as chests and liturgical objects that could not be built here because of

furniture built here was very practical, simple and made of local wood. They were mostly

trunks, chests, cupboards, sideboards, dressers, breadboxes, kneading troughs, pantries, beds,

seats of all kind, tables, desks, chests of drawers, etc, in other words, furniture of first necessity.

The settlers rapidly changed their choice of clothing to integrate what they learned from the

Indians. Because of the rigors of winter, the European clothes were ill suited and also

uneconomical. In fact, it was much cheaper to make clothes here with local products than to

bring them in from overseas. Mittens and mocassins were adopted by the coureurs des bois

and soon the settlers did the same. This way, the settlers adopted deer, moose, and bear or

caribou leather. They also wove linen and hemp when local wool was rare. During the

summers, the French getups were ridiculously hot especially during heat waves. The farmers

and even their wifes learned to work in the fields in their undershirts much to the despair of

certain good souls easily shocked.

ravages of scurvy convinced them that more appropriate food was needed along with clothing

and heating to face the long cold. The first settlers discovered caribous, deers, porcupines,

rabbits and beavers. And the fowls and the fish. They appreciated the cucumbers as a dessert.

Potatoes were avoided however and were eaten only during shortages because they “were not

the growers with the help of the British after 1760. Added to that were all the local fruits of the

forests and the meadows. Almost each home came to have a vegetable garden to provide

diversified fresh food for the family. The woman of the house was the master of the vegetable

garden.17

At the beginning, brandy, wine and liqueurs were imported. But soon, local beer was

produced and “bouillon” made from wheat or corn.

derivatives each and every Friday and Saturday of the year, plus during the forty days of Lent

and during nine other fasting days preceding certain religious feasts. And they did not have

much choice. For instance, Louis Gaboury a farmer living on Île d’Orléans was denounced by

a neighbor (Étienne Beaufils) for not having obeyed the rules of Lent. Without further proof,

the seigniory tribunal condemned him to “pay one cow and a year’s production of it to his

denouncer; further, to be tied to a public post during three hours and then, to be taken in

front of the parish chapel where kneeling, joined hands, bare headed, to ask forgiveness from

God, the King and Justice for having eaten meat during Lent without obtaining first

permission of the Church; on top of that, to pay a fine of 20 livres given to the charities of the

Parish and to incur the costs.” 19 and 20Food for thoughts!

As in some regions of France, here in the countryside of the colony, the neighbor was almost

like family. There was exchange of help regularly; tools, carts and horses were lent. A man

would go to get the parish priest with his best horse for a dying neighbor. At a wedding, the

two adjoining neighbor families were invited, as were the relatives. And of course, many

marriages were between neighbors. When bread was baked, one loaf was put aside as “the

neighbor’s loaf“.21

Little is know of Sainte Dupont and nothing of her family, only that she was a widow when

she married our ancestor Zacharie Cloutier and that she was from Mortagne. Her first

husband was Michel Lermusier from Feing in Perche (Orne).

“Generation 2”.

city. They had fourteen children of which ten married. Jean was a carpenter. He died on

October 16th, 1690 at Château-Richer as did his wife on April 25th, 1699.

married Robert Drouin on July 12th, 1637 in Québec city. They had signed a marriagecontract a year before on July 26

Guyon acting as a private notary wrote the contract. Robert Drouin was 28 years old at the

time. Living together would be out of question for a while because of Anne’s young age.

However, eligible women were so rare that Drouin did not want to risk not finding a wife.

The contract stipulated that the spouses would spend the first three years of their married life

under Zacharie’s roof. On the other hand, Zacharie and Sainte agreed to feed them during

that time. This was the first notarized act in Canada. Anne carried child six times and gave

birth for the first time at age 15; three of her babies were stillborn. She died at age 22 on

other children. He died in Château-Richer on June 1st, 1685.

children of which nine married. As his father and brother Jean, he was a carpenter. Charles

died on June 5th, 1709 and Louise died on April 28th, 1713, both in Château-Richer.

family. She married three times, first and quite young to François Marguerie, son of François

first coureurs des bois of the colony, then became an interpreter due to his knowledge of the

Indian languages and later was a clerk in Trois-Rivières. He drowned in the St. Lawrence

River near Trois-Rivières in June of 1648 and his body was found near Québec city a month

Québec city to Jean Mignault, son of Nicolas Mignault and of Madeleine de Brie, of Paris.

Jean was a soldier and a tailor. They had thirteen children including son Jean-Aubin who

settled in Acadia where he married Anne Dugas. Many of their descendants ended up in

Québec after the 1755 Deportation. Jean died before the 1681 Census. Louise married again

1699 in Château-Richer and Mataut followed at the same place on February 10th, 1706.

• A Seigneur was required to “pay faith and homage” to the Intendant when he took

possession of his fief. And in turn, the Seigneurs of back fiefs were required to pay faith and

homage to their Seigneur. However, after taking possession of their back fief in 1637,

reminded Cloutier and Guyon of their obligation but it fell on deaf ears. Giffard appealed to

the Governor in 1646. Governor Charles Huault de Montmagny ruled in favor of Giffard and

the latter enjoined his vassals again. They finally complied “when the Seigneur was absent

from his manor”…

their fief. Cloutier and Guyon were being difficult again in 1659 by refusing to comply. It took

another judgment from the Governor for them to carry their duty.