Gaspard Boucher

Male 1599 - 1662  (63 years)


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  • Name Gaspard Boucher 
    Birth 1599  Lemans, France Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Male 
    Death 20 May 1662  Trois Rivieres, Quebec Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Person ID I1019  My Genealogy
    Last Modified 3 Jan 2022 

    Father Jacques Jean Boucher,   b. 24 Feb 1546, Rennes, France Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 30 Jul 1611, Mortagne, France Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 65 years) 
    Relationship natural 
    Mother Francoise Paigne,   b. 4 Jul 1552, Mortagne, Perche, France Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 30 Jul 1611, Mortagne, Perche, France Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 59 years) 
    Relationship natural 
    Marriage 4 Jul 1582  Orne, France Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Family ID F5363  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Nicole Lemaire,   b. 1598, Lemans, France Find all individuals with events at this locationbur. 1662 (Age ~ 64 years) 
    Children 
     1. Pierre Boucher de Grosbois,   b. 1 Aug 1622, Orne, France Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 19 Apr 1717, Boucherville, Quebec Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 94 years)  [natural]
     2. Antoinette Boucher,   b. 6 Aug 1621, Langy, Allier, France Find all individuals with events at this location  [natural]
     3. Charles Boucher,   b. 7 Apr 1620, Chatres, France Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 17 Apr 1620, Clermont Creans, Maine, France Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 0 years)  [natural]
     4. Marie Boucher,   b. 22 Jan 1627/28, Lemans, France Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 29 Nov 1706, Batiscan, Quebec Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 78 years)  [natural]
     5. Nicolas Boucher,   b. 9 Sep 1625, Perche, France Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 23 Mar 1649, Trois Rivieres, Quebec Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 23 years)  [natural]
     6. Madeleine Boucher,   b. Abt 1634, Chartres, France Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 4 Sep 1691, Trois Rivieres, Quebec Find all individuals with events at this location (Age ~ 57 years)  [natural]
     7. Marguerite Boucher,   b. 28 Jul 1631, Mortagne, France Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Abt 1668, Montmorency, Quebec Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 36 years)  [natural]
    Family ID F1896  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 3 Jan 2022 

  • Notes 
    • - The fur trade is the main local economic factor. Everyone participates, and its prosperity is due to the explorers. The waterways allow access to the country's interior, permitting new discoveries, and alliances with the Indians and to consolidate trade. Conflicts will soon follow. The lucrative commerce of furs stimulates the English and the Dutch who are close neighbours, and they quickly realized the importance of Indian alliances. On his arrival Champlain allies himself with the Huron tribes. The Iroquois were allied with the English and did all that was possible to create problems for the French colony by diverting to New England the French canoes carrying furs.

      Two years after his arrival, Gaspard Boucher recommends his son Pierre to the Reverend Fathers, who hire him as a domestic, which permits him to live with the Jesuit missionaries in Huron country. This will enable him to learn their language and customs. It would be helpful to the new governor Louis d'Ailleboust. A few writers cited 1634 as the year of Pierre Boucher's arrival. Pierre Boucher had in fact written that he had arrived in 1635 "I am one of the habitants of New France that has lived here the longest having been brought here in 1635 by my now deceased father."

      He will spend four years with the missionaries. It is the beginning of a life, which is full of new and rare experiences, but so enriching. Pierre Boucher will benefit from this all of his life. On his return from the Huron country, the governor de Montmagny assigns him as a soldier in the Quebec City garrison, where he will rapidly become a corporal, then a sergeant, continuing his role as a translator of the Huron language. Pierre Boucher will quickly participate in many conflicts, and his sons will follow putting their lives at risk. They will not experience the end of New France, leaving this to the members of the third generation.

      Others have said it before me: The history of this family is the history of Canada. Lets hope that we shall never forget it. In 1695 Pierre Boucher wrote in his memoirs "my family is beautiful... I have nine sons. I also have six daughters." Most historians have noted this correctly, but that has not always been the case. Mgr Tanguay (genealogist) was the first to err in writing that the Boucher spouses had a son Joachim born in 1659 and killed in a combat against the Iroquois on July 12th 1692. It is useless to expand on this blunder of Tanguay since the other fifteen children are mentioned. It is the first of many errors done by qualified historians or researchers. I will refer to four more examples of this further down. One must recognize that it is not always easy to follow his descendants. The appearance of new family names and transfer of surnames can add to the discouragement by one who is concerned in doing research on Pierre Boucher's fifteen children.