Rene Lepage de Sainte-Claire (April 10, 1656, in Ouanne,

Burgundy Burgundy ( ; ; Burgundian: ''Bregogne'') is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. ...

– August 4, 1718, in

Rimouski Rimouski ( ; ) is a city in Quebec, Canada. Rimouski is located in the Bas-Saint-Laurent region, at the mouth of the Rimouski River. It has a population of 48,935 (as of 2021). Rimouski, whose motto is ''Legi patrum fidelis'' (Faithful to ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

) is the lord-founder of the town of

, Canada.

Origin

Born close to

Auxerre Auxerre ( , , Burgundian language (Oïl), Burgundian: ''Auchoirre'') is the capital (Prefectures in France, prefecture) of the Yonne Departments of France, department and the fourth-largest city in the Burgundy historical region southeast of Par ...

, René Lepage immigrated to

New France New France (, ) was the territory colonized by Kingdom of France, 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 Kingdom of Great Br ...

, with his mother Reine Loury and his aunt Constance Lepage, between 1670 and 1674. There, he joined his father Germain and his uncle Louis, who were installed on grounds of the current parish of St-François, at the north-eastern point of the Île d'Orleans, close to

Quebec City Quebec City 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 Census Metropolitan Area (including surrounding communities) had a populati ...

. On June 10, 1686, René Lepage married Marie-Madeleine Gagnon, 15 years old, with whom he had 17 children.

Acquisition of Rimouski

Like several of his fellow-citizens, René dreamt to build a great stronghold for his family. With this intention, he left the

Île d'Orléans Île d'Orléans (; ) 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 of French Canadians c ...

to go live on the coast. On March 17, 1693, 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 Chat ...

, Louis de Buade, Count of Frontenac, conceded to him a ground in commoner's condition located behind stronghold of Espinay at the South river, which they called Sainte-Claire. From this moment he added this part to his name, as was the fashion of the time, even without ennoblement. Too far away from the

Saint Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (, ) is a large international river in the middle latitudes of North America connecting the Great Lakes to the North Atlantic Ocean. Its waters flow in a northeasterly direction from Lake Ontario to the Gulf of St. Lawrenc ...

, he gave up his project of colonization the following year. Indeed, July 10, 1694, René Lepage de Ste-Claire exchanged his ground in the

(bequeathed by his father Germain) with Augustin Rouer de la Cardonnière, son of a merchant of

, for the Seigneurie of

. Rouer de la Cardonnière, owner of the concession since 1688 did not intend obviously to leave the area of

to go to settle so far.

Expansion of the Seigneurie

Two years later, René moved his family in

. His wife, Marie-Madeleine Gagnon, 15 years his junior, followed him with their first 4 children: Pierre de St-Barnabé, born in 1687 and who will succeed to him; Marie, born in 1689; Louis de Ste-Claire, born in 1690, who will be ordered priest and will become the future Lord of Terrebonne; and finally Guillaume, the youngest, who will die in low age in 1701, towards the 10 years age. In 1696, they are the first inhabitants of this seigniory, with some other parents. In order to leave in heritage advantageous grounds with his children, René thus acquires, with other nearest relatives, Pierre Lessard and Gabriel Thibierge inter alia, other pieces of seigniories, extending from Grand-Métis, l'Anse-aux-Coques, Father's Point, St-Barnabé to the Hâtée river. All these transactions are supplemented about 1701. One thus realizes that Lepage de Ste-Claire did not want to waste time to establish his family durably. He is, at this date, the Lord of a territory of more than 50 km of sea front on the littoral of St-Lawrence river.

Heritage

Of René Lepage's progeny, four girls became nuns, his eldest son, Pierre de St-Barnabé, took the seigniory and cleared it with the profit of his family, and his second boy, Louis Lepage de Ste-Claire, priest and canon, was born in St-François from the

Ile d'Orleans Ile or ILE may refer to: Ile * Ile, a Puerto Rican singer * Ile District (disambiguation), multiple places * Ilé-Ifẹ̀, an ancient Yoruba city in south-western Nigeria * Interlingue (ISO 639:ile), a planned language * Isoleucine, an amino aci ...

. He acquired the seigniory of Terrebonne on September 2, 1720. He quickly developed the land surrounding Mille-île river; he had a church built with a presbytery, four flour mills and a lumber mill, which created of an important industrial centre in

, after

and

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

. The descendants of René Lepage have settled across

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

, from

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

to the south-west of the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

over the years.

Bibliography

* Jean-Charles Fortin, Antonio Lechasseur et al., ''Histoire du Bas-St-Laurent'', Quebec, Institut québécois de recherche sur la culture IQRC, 1993. * Reynald Lepage et al., ''Dictionnaire généalogique des Familles LEPAGE'', Tome 1 and 2, Second Edition, Québec, Association des Lepage d'Amérique Inc., 2004. * Jeannot Bourdages, Paul Larocque et al., ''Rimouski depuis ses origines'', Rimouski, Société d'histoire du Bas-St-Laurent, Société de généalogie et d'archives de Rimouski, Université du Québec à Rimouski (GRIDEQ), 2006.

External links

Association des Lepage d'Amérique
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lepage De Ste-Claire, Rene 1656 births 1718 deaths People from Yonne Immigrants to New France History of Rimouski