The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents, Vol. 6: Quebec, 1633-1634
History
The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents, Vol. 6: Quebec, 1633-1634
Canada -- History -- To 1763 (New France); Indians of North America -- Canada; Jesuits -- Missions; Jesuits -- North America
8 (p. 75).--Robert Giffard, sieur of Beauport, was born in 1587,
at Mortagne, France. He was a physician, and Sulte says that he had
an appointment in that capacity, on the ships that were annually
sent to Canada. In 1627, he had a hunting-lodge at La Canardière,
where two Frenchmen were murdered by the Indians. He left Canada,
upon its seizure by the English; but having obtained (Jan. 15, 1634)
the concession of Beauport, below Quebec, he, in the following May,
conducted thither a colony, under the escort of Duplessis-Bochart.
He was (after Hébert) the first real colonist in Canada, the first
who obtained from the soil support for his establishment. Lists of
Giffard's censitaires are given by Sulte (_Can.-Français_, vol. ii.,
pp. 50-52, 57). In 1647, he obtained another and larger grant of land,
known as the fief St. Gabriel. He transferred a part of this concession
to the Hurons of New Lorette, March 13, 1651; another part to the
hospital nuns (which order one of his daughters had joined two years
before), Aug. 20, 1652; and the remainder to the Jesuits, Nov. 2, 1657,
but five months before his death. In September, 1648, Giffard was
elected a member of the colonial council. In August, 1652, his daughter
Marie Louise (then aged thirteen) married Charles de Lauson, son of the
governor. Giffard was a prominent and public-spirited citizen of New
France.
9 (p. 101).--Nicholas Rohault, Marquis de Gamache (or Gamaches), was
a nobleman of Picardy. His eldest son, René Rohault, was born May
25, 1609, not far from Amiens, in which city he was a pupil at the
Jesuit college. René became a novice in that order, March 9, 1626, at
Paris,--largely through the influence of Coton, then provincial of
France, whose death occurred but ten days later. Upon entering his
novitiate, René persuaded his father to give the Jesuits a part of his
own patrimony, for the establishment of a school in connection with
their Canadian mission. De Gamache accordingly gave them, for his son,
16,000 écus of gold (Charlevoix erroneously says 6,000); and added, as
a personal gift from himself, an annuity of 3,000 livres, to be paid as
long as he should live. René pursued his studies successively at Paris,
Amiens, Eu, and La Flèche, and preached three years at Eu, where he
died June 29, 1839.
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