Pierre Boucher de Boucherville (born Pierre Boucher; 1 August 162219 April 1717) was a French settler, soldier, officer, naturalist, official, governor, and ennobled aristocrat in Nouvelle-France or

New France New France (french: Nouvelle-France) was the area colonized by France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Great Britain and Spai ...

(in what is now

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

Early life

Pierre emigrated from

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

to New France in 1634 with his father, Gaspard Boucher, a carpenter. At the age of 18, he entered the services of the

Jesuits The Society of Jesus ( la, Societas Iesu; abbreviation: SJ), also known as the Jesuits (; la, Iesuitæ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

and spent four years with the

Huron Huron may refer to: People * Wyandot people (or Wendat), indigenous to North America * Wyandot language, spoken by them * Huron-Wendat Nation, a Huron-Wendat First Nation with a community in Wendake, Quebec * Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi ...

missions at

Georgian Bay Georgian Bay (french: Baie Georgienne) is a large bay of Lake Huron, in the Laurentia bioregion. It is located entirely within the borders of Ontario, Canada. The main body of the bay lies east of the Bruce Peninsula and Manitoulin Island. To ...

(see

Sainte-Marie among the Hurons Sainte-Marie among the Hurons (french: Sainte-Marie-au-pays-des-Hurons) was a French Jesuit settlement in Wendake, the land of the Wendat, near modern Midland, Ontario, from 1639 to 1649. It was the first European settlement in what is now the ...

). He spoke fluent

Iroquoian The Iroquoian languages are a language family of indigenous peoples of North America. They are known for their general lack of labial consonants. The Iroquoian languages are polysynthetic and head-marking. As of 2020, all surviving Iroquoian la ...

languages, of which Huron is a dialect.

From Corporal to Governor

In 1641, Governor Charles Huault de Montmagny took him into his service as a soldier in the garrison of

Quebec city Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Communauté métrop ...

, but especially as an interpreter and agent to the Indian tribes due to his familiarity with the Huron dialect. In this capacity, he took part in all the parleys of the authorities with the Indians. In 1645, Boucher was appointed official interpreter of Indian languages at

Trois-Rivières Trois-Rivières (, – 'Three Rivers') is a city in the Mauricie administrative region of Quebec, Canada, at the confluence of the Saint-Maurice River, Saint-Maurice and Saint Lawrence River, Saint Lawrence rivers, on the north shore of the Sain ...

. He rose through the ranks first as corporal, sergeant, and then as commissioned officer. He was appointed commissary-general of the trading post in 1648 and elected captain of the militia in 1651. While in this capacity, he distinguished himself against an attack by the

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 ...

in 1653 and concluded a peace treaty with them on favourable terms. The next year, owing to this success, he was named governor of the settlement.

Raised to nobility

In 1661, he was sent to France to represent the colonies. He returned with soldiers, supplies, additional settlers and a commitment of support to the colony of

by the French 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 ...

. Pierre Boucher was the first Canadian settler to be ennobled by King Louis XIV.

Re-appointed governor

Re-appointed governor in 1662, a position he held until his resignation in 1667. His ''L'histoire veritable et naturelle des moeurs et productions du pays de la Nouvelle-France, vulgairement dite le Canada'', a description of the flora, fauna and native societies in the region (and a significant, pioneering documentation of North American natural history) was published in Paris in 1664. He was succeeded in the governorship by his son-in-law, René Gaultier de Varennes. He withdrew from public office to establish his

Seigneurie In English law, seignory or seigniory, spelled ''signiory'' in Early Modern English (; french: seigneur, lit=lord; la, senior, lit=elder), is the lordship (authority) remaining to a grantor after the grant of an estate in fee simple. ''Nulle terre ...

centred on

Boucherville Boucherville is a city in the Montérégie region in Quebec, Canada. It is a suburb of Montreal on the South Shore (Montreal), South shore of the Saint Lawrence River. Boucherville is part of both the urban agglomeration of Longueuil and Greate ...

on the south shore of the

St Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (french: Fleuve Saint-Laurent, ) is a large river in the middle latitudes of North America. Its headwaters begin flowing from Lake Ontario in a (roughly) northeasterly direction, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, connecting ...

near

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

and extending out well into the

Montérégie Montérégie () is an administrative region in the southwest part of Quebec. It includes the cities of Boucherville, Brossard, Châteauguay, Longueuil, Saint-Hyacinthe, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Salaberry-de-Valleyfield and Vaudreuil-Dorion. The ...

region. His lands also included parts of the North Shore extending out to la

Mauricie Mauricie () is a traditional and current administrative region of Quebec. La Mauricie National Park is contained within the region, making it a prime tourist location. The region has a land area of 35,860.05 km² (13,845.64 sq mi) and a popu ...

and

. He died at his seigneury at Boucherville, which was named in his honour.

Family

Pierre Boucher married Marie-Madeleine Chrestienne (Ouebadinoukoué), a Huron girl who had been educated by the Ursuline order of nuns; she died in childbirth. Their infant son Jacques did not survive. Pierre Boucher later married Jeanne Crevier, who bore 15 children; Their descendants took many names and thrived in the diaspora of New France, and many lines are still in existence today. The eldest son, Pierre Boucher inherited the title and seigneurie of Boucherville, which had excellent land in the alluvial floodplain of the

. He married his eldest daughter, Marie-Ursule Boucher, to René Gaultier de Varennes, governor of Trois Rivières, under whom he had served. It is not known whether Pierre Boucher received land as dowry, as an award of bravery, or during his tenure as governor of Trois Rivières, but later Pierre Boucher the eldest is cited as having a Northern Mauricie holding, having rockier soil, which he split into two fiefdoms for his next two sons: Lambert Boucher De Grandpré and Ignace Boucher De Grosbois.

Name

While first surname of the family is Boucher; this name is gradually supplanted by the names of nobility, which become the new surnames of this diverse genealogical branche. Surnames in the Boucher line include Montarville, or de Montarville, Grandpré, DeGrandpré, or de Grandpré, Grosbois, DeGrosbois or de Grosbois, Monbrun or de Monbrun, LaPerrière or de la Perrière, LaCoursière or de la Coursière, Montizambert or de Montizambert, Niverville or de Niverville, Bruyère or de la Bruyère, le Clerc, Lussier, Marcotte, Saucier, Gaultier de Varennes, LeGardeur de Tilly, Daneau de Muy, Sabrevois de SermonVille. Descendants have spread beyond Canada to places including the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label=Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It incl ...

and the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

, and include such prominent French-Canadians and French-Americans as Paul André Albert and

Jade Raymond Jade Raymond (born 28 August 1975) is a Canadian video game creator, best known for helping create the '' Assassin's Creed'' and ''Watch Dogs'' franchises, and for building the Ubisoft Toronto and EA Motive Studios. On 16 March 2021, Raymond a ...

Issue

# Pierre Boucher de Boucherville, sieur de Boucherville, 1653-1740, second lord of Boucherville, first lord of Montarville. Spouse of Charlotte Denis. # Marie-Ursule Boucher, 1655-1733, spouse René Gaultier deVarennes. # Lambert Boucher, sieur de Grandpré, 1656-1699, spouse of Marguerite Vauvril de Blason. # Ignace Boucher, sieur de Grosbois, 1659-1699, spouse of Marie-Anne Margane de Lavaltrie. # Madeleine Boucher, 1661-1739, spouse of Pierre-Noël Le Gardeur de Tilly. # Marguerite Boucher, 1663-1698, spouse of Nicolas Daneau de Muy. # Philippe Boucher, 1665-1721, priest. # Jean Boucher, sieur de Monbrun 1667-1744, his first spouse Françoise- Claire Charest, then Michelle-Françoise Godefroy de Saint-Paul. # René Boucher, sieur de La Perrière, 1668-1742, spouse was Marie-Françoise Mailhot. # Jeanne Boucher, 1670-1703, twin, spouse de Jacques-Charles Sabrevois de Bleury. # Louise Boucher, 1670-1756, twin, single. # Nicolas-Michel Boucher, 1672-1733, priest # Jacques Boucher, sieur de Montizambert, 1673-1688, twin. # Jean-Baptiste Boucher, sieur de Niverville 1673-1740, twin, spouse Marguerite-Thérèse Hertel de la Frenière. # Geneviève Boucher, 1676-1766, Ursuline nun.

Publications

(Florentin Lambert, rue Saint Jacques, Paris, 1664) Pierre Boucher de Boucherville, Histoire veritable et naturelle des moeurs & productions du pays de la Nouuelle France, vulgairement dite le Canada

(as above on Amazon books) Pierre Boucher de Boucherville, Histoire veritable et naturelle des moeurs & productions du pays de la Nouuelle France, vulgairement dite le Canada

References

External links

Biography
at the ''

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 ...

Online''
"Genealogy"

(Ancestry.com) Boucher de Boucherville family history (has errors!)

(Amazon books) Isabelle Tanguay, Destin social d'une famille noble canadienne : les Boucher et leurs alliés

(Google Books excerpt) Isabelle Tanguay, Destin social d'une famille noble canadienne : les Boucher et leurs alliés
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boucher, Pierre 1622 births 1717 deaths Boucherville Canadian Roman Catholics French emigrants to pre-Confederation Quebec French Roman Catholics Immigrants to New France People from Mortagne-au-Perche People of New France Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada)