The Voyage of 1634: How Robert Giffard and the Percheron Fleet Built New France

 

Manor of Robert Giffard built by Zacharie Cloutier

Before 1634, New France was little more than a string of fragile fur-trading outposts clinging to the cliffs of Quebec. A handful of wintering traders, soldiers, and seasonal laborers occupied the riverbanks, but there were few families, few crops, and little permanent stability.

That trajectory changed forever when a country doctor from Mortagne-au-Perche organized a bold venture across the North Atlantic—a migration fleet that brought our pioneer ancestors to the shores of the St. Lawrence.

The Visionary Doctor: Robert Giffard de Moncel

Dr. Robert Giffard (c. 1592–1668), a surgeon and apothecary from Tourouvre, realized that New France would never survive as a simple commercial venture. It needed root-and-branch colonization: families, stonecutters, carpenters, and farmers willing to clear the ancient wilderness.

In 1634, Giffard received the first true agricultural seigneurial grant in Canada: the Seigneurie of Beauport, located just downstream from Quebec City. He immediately returned to his native province of Perche to recruit the skilled tradesmen and sturdy farm families needed to turn a forest into a community.

               [THE PERCHERON IMMIGRATION ENGINE]

Dr. Robert Giffard (Seigneur of Beauport)

• Master Surgeon & Apothecary

• Offered 3-to-5 Year Land Contracts ───►  [Mortagne-au-Perche &     Tourouvre]

• Guaranteed Tools, Wages, & Land                   Recruited Skilled                                                                                                         Craftsmen & Families

                                                     │

                                                    ▼

                                           [1634 Percheron Migration Fleet]

                                           • 4 Ships (100+ Settlers)

                                           • Cloutier, Guyon, Côté, Langlois

Unlike previous outfits that brought only single male laborers, Giffard insisted on bringing intact households. He promised them land, provisions, and livestock in exchange for several years of work clearing timber and building the colony's first permanent structures.

The Crossing and Arrival at Beauport

In April 1634, four wooden ships carrying roughly 100 colonists lifted anchor from Dieppe. For our ancestor Zacharie Cloutier—a master carpenter who had worked briefly as a laborer for Samuel de Champlain back in 1619—this voyage meant returning to Canada, this time with his wife Xainte Dupont and their children to stay forever.

When the ships arrived at Quebec in June 1634, the colony’s total European population numbered around 60 people. The arrival of Giffard’s fleet instantly doubled the size of the settlement.

Pioneer Ancestor	Trade / Role	Contribution to Early Beauport
Zacharie Cloutier	Master Carpenter	Co-constructed Giffard’s manor house (Canada's first stone/timber manor).
Jean Guyon du Buisson	Master Mason	Laid the stone foundations for early Beauport and Quebec City.
Jean Côté	Habitant / Farmer	Contracted to farm Beauport lands; raised crops and livestock.
Noël Langlois	Carpenter & Pilot	Cleared early riverfront concessions along the Côte de Beaupré.

         [1634 SETTLEMENT AT THE SEIGNEURIE OF BEAUPORT]

Arrive at Quebec City (June 1634)

                     │

                     ▼

Construct Giffard's Manor House  ───► (Canada's First Stone & Timber Manor)

                     │

                     ▼

      Distribution of Land Concessions ───► • La Clouterie                                                                                      (Zacharie Cloutier)

                                                                           • Du Buisson (Jean       Guyon)

                                                                           • River Front Lots      (Côté, Langlois)

Working alongside mason Jean Guyon, Zacharie Cloutier helped build Giffard's manor house—the central stronghold and administrative heart of Beauport. In return, Cloutier received his own fiefdom, known as La Clouterie, marking one of the earliest private land holdings in Canadian history.

A Heritage Written in Timber and Stone

The 1634 Percheron immigration remains one of the most remarkable demographic stories in North American history. From this single small region in France, a tiny cluster of interconnected families laid the bedrock for an entire culture.

Every field cleared by Zacharie Cloutier, every stone laid by Jean Guyon, and every crop harvested by Jean Côté helped secure the survival of New France. Nearly four centuries later, their determination still echoes down through our family tree.

Our Lineage to the 1634 Pioneers

  Zacharie Cloutier (c. 1590–1677) m. Xainte Dupont (c. 1595–1680)

  [10th Great-Grandparents — Percheron Pioneers of 1634]

                               │

                               ▼

  Louise Cloutier (1632–1699) m. Jean Mignault dit Châtillon (1622–c. 1681)

  [9th Great-Grandparents — Frontier Soldier & Interpreter Family]

Thank you Gemini AI for your wisdom and research assistance. -- Drifting Cowboy

The Founders of New France: Our Pioneer Ancestors Who Arrived Before 1637

 

In the autumn of 1619, the cold Atlantic wind whipping off the St. Lawrence River brought the scent of wet spruce, woodsmoke, and vast, untouched wilderness. At the foot of Cape Diamond, a young French carpenter named Zacharie Cloutier swung his broadaxe into fresh timber, helping frame the fortified walls of the Habitation. Beside him stood Samuel de Champlain, a man driven by a singular vision: turning a fragile fur-trading post into a permanent, self-sustaining French society in North America.

The Champlain Connection: Direct Ancestral Ties

Zacharie had crossed the ocean on a laborer's contract, clearing brush and building shelters before returning to France. But the spirit of le Pays d'en Haut had taken hold. Fifteen years later, in 1634, Zacharie returned to stay—bringing his wife Xainte Dupont and their children as part of the famous Percheron immigration recruited by Dr. Robert Giffard.

Three of our early ancestral branches maintained documented, direct connections to the Father of New France:

Pioneer Ancestor	Historical Arrival	Direct Interaction with Samuel de Champlain
Zacharie Cloutier	1619 (Laborer) / 1634 (Settler)	Hired by Henri II de Montmorency to assist Champlain in building, clearing, and planting at Quebec.
Anne Martin (and Abraham Martin)	Before 1635	Family lived side-by-side with Champlain in early Quebec; Abraham Martin was a close friend named in Champlain's 1635 will.
Jean Côté & Anne Martin	Married Nov 17, 1635	Married in Champlain’s Notre-Dame-de-Recouvrance church just four weeks before Champlain’s death.

                      

SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN (1567–1635)

                       [Founder & Governor of New France]

                                      │

       ┌──────────────┼──────────────────────┐

       ▼                               ▼                               ▼

Zacharie Cloutier               Abraham Martin                 Guillaume Couillard

(1619 Hired Laborer)          (Ship Pilot & Friend)         (Builds Champlain's Coffin)

       │                               │                               │

       ▼                               ▼                               ▼

Louise Cloutier                 Anne Martin                   Witnessed Marriage of

m. Jean Mignault               m. Jean Côté                   Jean Côté & Anne Martin

Clearing the Wilderness: The First Habitants (1634–1637)

By the mid-1630s, the muddy tracks of Quebec City and the newly formed Seigneurie of Beauport were alive with the axes and plows of our ancestors.

Jean Côté worked the fertile shores of Beauport, cutting hay for the Company of New France. Robert Caron arrived aboard the ships of 1636 alongside young Marie Crevet, one of the earliest Filles à Marier—courageous single women who braved two months of Atlantic storms to build families on the frontier. Louis Sédillot dit Montreuil cleared acres of thick timber for Governor Montmagny, while Philippe Amiot and Anne Convent established their household overlooking the river.

On a cold November day in 1635, our ancestors gathered inside the timber-framed church of Notre-Dame-de-Recouvrance. Jean Côté and Anne Martin knelt before Father Charles Lallemant to exchange their vows. Standing as witness was Guillaume Couillard—the veteran colonist who, just twenty-eight days later, would craft the pine coffin for a dying Samuel de Champlain on Christmas Day, 1635.

Defenders, Interpreters, and Wilderness Scouts

Though Champlain passed away that winter, his vision lived on in the sweat and determination of our family lines. Their children were not merely farmers; they were rivermen, wilderness scouts, and frontier soldiers.

                  [THE FRONTIER DEFENDERS & INTERPRETERS]

François Marguerie (1612–1648) ────► Master Interpreter at Trois-Rivières

Jean Mignault (1622–c. 1681)   ────► French Soldier & Anti-Iroquois Commander

Jean Amyot (c. 1625–1648)      ────► Jesuit Huron Mission & Defender

• François Marguerie: Mastered Indigenous languages and served as the chief interpreter at Trois-Rivières. After he tragically drowned in 1648, his widow, Louise Cloutier, married Jean Mignault dit Châtillon—a soldier sent by the Queen of France who commanded French and Algonquin troops along the St. Lawrence.
• Jean Amyot: Traveled into Huronia with Father Isaac Jogues, learning the language and forming mobile defense squadrons to protect the fledgling colony from raids.
• Anne Cloutier & Robert Drouin: Signed the oldest recorded marriage contract in Canadian history in 1636.

From Zacharie Cloutier's first broadaxe strike alongside Champlain in 1619 to the establishment of the early seigneuries, these families did not merely witness the birth of New France—they built it with their own hands.

Summary of Pre-1637 Pioneer Lines

Ancestral Line	Immigrant Ancestors	Arrival Year	Primary Settlement
Cloutier	Zacharie Cloutier & Xainte Dupont	1619 / 1634	Beauport & Château-Richer
Mignault / Cloutier	Jean Mignault & Louise Cloutier	1644 (Jean) / 1634 (Louise)	Quebec, Beauport & Château-Richer
Amiot	Philippe Amiot & Anne Convent	1636	Quebec City
Caron	Robert Caron & Marie Crevet	1636	Beauport & Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré
Sédillot	Louis Sédillot & Marie Grimoult	1637	Quebec City (Notre-Dame)
Côté	Jean Côté & Anne Martin	1634 (Jean) / Pre-1635 (Anne)	Quebec City & Beauport

Also see https://a-drifting-cowboy.blogspot.com/2016/07/pioneer-ancestors-that-settled-in.html

Thank you Gemini AI for your wisdom and research assistance. -- Drifting Cowboy

Brothers of the Paddle: Charles and André Lagassé in the North West Company

 

While many voyageurs faced the daunting expanse of le Pays d’en Haut alone, the Lagassé family sent two of its own sons across the Continental Divide. Born along the south shore of the St. Lawrence to Charles Mignier dit Lagassé and Marie Madeleine Aubé, brothers Charles (c. 1777–1823) and André (c. 1775–aft. 1821) traded the quiet life of Kamouraska for the roaring rivers of the trans-continental fur trade.

Together and in parallel, the brothers served as essential gears in the high-stakes machinery of the North West Company (NWC).

[THE LAGASSÉ BROTHERS IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST] 

Charles Lagassé (c. 1777–1823) ──┐

• Master Steersman (Gouvernail)         │ 

• Pioneer over Howse Pass (1800)         ├─► [Nor'Wester Columbia District] 

                        │ • David Thompson Expeditions 

André Lagassé (c. 1775–aft. 1821).       │ • Fort Astoria / Fort George 

• Pack Train & Interior Specialist     ──┘ • Country Ties with Salish/Flathead

1. Complementary Roles on the Water and the Trail

In the hierarchy of a Nor'Wester canoe brigade, trust was everything. A single mistake by a steersman could crush a birchbark canoe against river granite or spill a season's worth of trade goods into frozen rapids.

• Charles established himself early as a skilled gouvernail (steersman) and bowsman. His precision on the water earned him a spot on David Thompson’s most critical mapping expeditions, taking him down the Columbia River, past Kettle Falls, and all the way to the Pacific ocean at Fort Astoria.

• André, working alongside the mountain brigades, specialized as a milieu (middleman) and interior packer. When the rivers turned into treacherous mountain passes, André’s strength in managing pack horses and navigating overland trails ensured that Thompson's outposts stayed supplied through brutal alpine winters.

2. Opening the Kootenay and Flathead Country

The brothers were at the tip of the spear as the North West Company pushed west of the Rockies into the Columbia River basin.

In October 1800, Charles made fur trade history when Thompson sent him over Howse Pass to winter directly with the Kootenay people—becoming one of the first two Europeans to establish a seasonal foothold on the western side of the Canadian Rockies. Not far behind, André was engaged in the interior trade throughout the Saleesh (Flathead) and Kootenay territories, bartering steel axes, iron kettles, and gunpowder for prime beaver pelts.

3. Rooted in the West: From Nor'Westers to Freemen

When the brutal rivalry between the North West Company and the Hudson's Bay Company ended in a forced merger in 1821, both Charles and André chose not to return to the settled parishes of Québec. Decades of wilderness life had transformed them.

Both brothers became freemen—independent trappers and traders living west of the Divide. Through country marriages with Indigenous women, including ties to the Salish/Flathead nation, the Lagassé brothers anchored a new Métis generation on the Columbia Plateau. From the St. Lawrence to the Pacific, Charles and André proved that the bond of brotherhood could survive the harshest rivers and highest mountain passes in North America.

About David Thompson: The Greatest Mapmaker of North America

David Thompson lived from 1770 to 1857, mapping 1.5 million square miles of North America during his career as a fur trader and David Thompson.

Early Life and Training (1770–1796)

• April 30, 1770: Born in London, England.
• 1784: Apprenticed to the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) after schooling in mathematics and navigation; sailed to Canada.
• 1794: Promoted to official surveyor for the HBC.

North West Company and Major Mapping (1797–1812)

• May 23, 1797: Left the HBC after being told to stop surveying; walked 80 miles in the snow to join the rival North West Company (NWC).
• 1797–1798: Completed a major expedition mapping central Canada and Lake Superior.
• Spring 1799: Married Charlotte Small at Grand Portage.
• 1807: Crossed the Continental Divide via Howse Pass to search for the Columbia River and open trade routes to the Pacific.
• 1807–1811: Explored and mapped the Columbia Plateau and the entire length of the Columbia River.
• July 14, 1811: Reached the Pacific Ocean and Fort Astoria, two months after American fur traders.
• 1812: Retired from active field exploration and moved to Montreal.

Later Years and Legacy (1817–1857)

• 1817–1827: Worked as chief surveyor for the International Boundary Commission under the Treaty of Ghent.
• 1831–1845: Faced severe financial debt and bad land investments, forcing him back to commercial surveying.
• 1851: Lost his eyesight completely, leaving his memoirs unfinished.
• February 10, 1857: Died in poverty and obscurity in Montreal, Quebec.

Thank you Gemini AI for your wisdom and research assistance. -- Drifting Cowboy