Jean de Lauzon or de Lauson (; 2 January 1586 – 16 February 1666) was the

governor of New France The governor of New France was the viceroy of the King of France in North America. A French nobleman, he was appointed to govern the colonies of New France, which included Canada, Acadia and Louisiana. The residence of the Governor was at the Chatea ...

from 1651 to 1657, one of the most challenging times for the new colony. He also was born into being the lord of Lirec. As a prominent lawyer in France, in 1613 Lauzon was appointed a counsellor in the Parliament. He served in several government positions, including president of the Grand Conseil, intendant of

Provence Provence (, , , , ; oc, Provença or ''Prouvènço'' , ) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east; it is bor ...

, then of

Guyenne Guyenne or Guienne (, ; oc, Guiana ) was an old French province which corresponded roughly to the Roman province of '' Aquitania Secunda'' and the archdiocese of Bordeaux. The name "Guyenne" comes from ''Aguyenne'', a popular transformation o ...

, and of

Dauphiné The Dauphiné (, ) is a former province in Southeastern France, whose area roughly corresponded to that of the present departments of Isère, Drôme and Hautes-Alpes. The Dauphiné was originally the Dauphiné of Viennois. In the 12th centu ...

. Lauzon had been developing interests in the colony of New France. He was a founding member and became the director of the

Compagnie des Cent-Associés The Company of One Hundred Associates ( French: formally the Compagnie de la Nouvelle-France, or colloquially the Compagnie des Cent-Associés or Compagnie du Canada), or Company of New France, was a French trading and colonization company ch ...

. Lauzon used his influence within the company to obtain land for himself and his sons in the colony. By 1640, the Lauzons had become the biggest landowners in the colony. Their properties included the

Island of Montreal The Island of Montreal (french: Île de Montréal) is a large island in southwestern Quebec, Canada, that is the site of a number of municipalities including most of the city of Montreal and is the most populous island in Canada. It is the main ...

and

Île d'Orléans Île d'Orléans (; en, Island of Orleans) is an island located in the Saint Lawrence River about east of downtown Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. It was one of the first parts of the province to be colonized by the French, and a large percentage ...

. Lauzon was appointed as governor in 1651. He moved with his three sons – including François, the eldest, who was a member of Parliament for

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...

– to the colony. His wife had apparently earlier died in France. All three sons married into other founding families of the colony after having been set up with various lands and positions within the area. The establishment of Lauzon's family in the colony was probably intended to inspire confidence amongst the settlers and encourage agriculture in addition to the

fur trade The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the mos ...

. He was the first governor to pursue this type of policy. In 1653, Lauzon negotiated a peace treaty with the

Mohawk Mohawk may refer to: Related to Native Americans * Mohawk people, an indigenous people of North America (Canada and New York) *Mohawk language, the language spoken by the Mohawk people * Mohawk hairstyle, from a hairstyle once thought to have been ...

, an

Iroquois The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...

nation based in what is now New York. It ended their attacks on French settlers and reduced the threat to the colony for some years. Afterward, he accorded to himself the monopoly on the fur trade; settlers sought to open the trade by petitioning King

Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Vers ...

. The king responded by ordering the fur trade to be reopened to all colonists. Lauzon returned to France, where he continued his business and political career. He died in 1666 at the age of 80, in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. One of his descendants, Marie-Catherine-Antoinette de Lauson, married

Roland-Michel Barrin de La Galissonière Roland-Michel Barrin de La Galissonière, Marquis de La Galissonière, sometimes spelled Galissonnière (; 10 November 1693 – 6 October 1756), was the French governor of New France from 1747 to 1749 and the victor in the Battle of Minorca ...

(1747–1749), who also served as Governor of Canada.

Lauzon, Quebec Lauzon is a former city in southern Quebec, Canada, located on the St. Lawrence River northeast of Lévis. Founded in 1867 as a village it became a town in 1910, Lauzon had a population of about 14,500 when it merged with Lévis in 1989. The th ...

was named in his honour in 1867.

References

Jean de Lauson
''

Dictionary of Canadian Biography The ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography'' (''DCB''; french: Dictionnaire biographique du Canada) is a dictionary of biographical entries for individuals who have contributed to the history of Canada. The ''DCB'', which was initiated in 1959, is a ...

,'' retrieved on 27 May 2007
'' Catholic Encyclopedia''

''L’Encyclopédie de l’histoire du Québec'' / ''The Quebec History Encyclopedia,'' Marianopolis College. Retrieved 27 May 2007 {{DEFAULTSORT:Lauzon, Jean de 1580s births 1666 deaths French emigrants to pre-Confederation Quebec 17th-century French lawyers Governors of New France Politicians from Paris French people in New France 17th-century Canadian politicians