Robert Giguère

Robert Giguère (* March 9, 1616 - † August 1709) was an early pioneer in New France, one of the founders of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré, Quebec and the progenitor of virtually all the Giguères in North America.

Early Life

Little is known for certain about Robert Giguère’s life in France. His parents were Jehan (Le Jeune) Giguère and Michelle Jornel. Two brothers had married two sisters. Jehan's brother, Jehan "The elder" married Michelle's sister, Marie. Jehan and Michelle had nine children of which Robert was the sixth. He was baptized in the little church in Tourouvre, in the parish of Saint Aubin on March 9, 1616. Presumably he was born either on that day or just a few days earlier.

It is certain that Robert Giguère was in New France in 1651, however, according to George-Emile Giguère, in 1642, he was missing from French census records. Could he have been here in 1642?

St. Aubin de Tourouvre (2004, P.A. Emond)

File:Baptismal.jpg

Baptismal font at St. Aubin de Tourouvre (2004, P.A. Emond)

Close-up of plaque above the baptismal font

The Perche and Tourouvre

The name “Le Perche” derives from the Latin, “Silva pertica” which originally denoted an immense forest on the borders of the Gaulish cities of the Essuins (capital: Sées), the Eburovices (capital: Evreux), the Cenomans (capital: Le Mans) and the Carnutes (capital: Chartres). Located about 100 miles south west of Paris, in Lower Normandy, the Perche has always been a Region. It was created sometime between 1079 and 1100 when Geoffroy IV, one of the region’s most powerful landowners, extended his rule over both the county of Corbon (the present area around Mortagne) and the seigniory of Nogent-le-Rotrou, which made him the master of much of the old forest of le Perche. He assumed the title of “Count of le Perche.” His son Rotrou III, who added the seigniory of Bellême to these territories in 1113, brought le Perche to the size of a province, though it remained much smaller than the natural tract of the same name.

When Guillaume, the sixth Count of le Perche died without an heir in 1226, the county reverted to the Crown. Le Perche would from then on be given out as an estate to the children or brothers of the King of France.

When the departments were being created by the Constituent Assembly in 1792, Le Perche was carved up among four of them: Orne and Eure-et-Loir for the most part, and to a lesser extent, Sarthe and Loir-et-Cher.

As it was in the time of Robert Giguère, the Perche remains a beautiful pastoral area consisting mainly of gently rolling farmland but, unlike much of France, it is blessed with some beautiful forests. It also benefits from a number of rivers and streams.

Why Did They Come?

Leaving everything you have loved and known to make a very long, danger filled journey to an unknown place so far away could not have been a trivial decision. So, why did they come? They were not persecuted or forced to leave and le Perche was not a poor area. For the most part these young unmarried men were drawn by the adventure of it. That and the fact that the King of France had offered some incentives for his people to settle in New France. One such incentive had to do with the establishment of a group called "La Compagnie des Cent Associes” The Company of One Hundred Associates who were to create seigneuries in Quebec that could be subdivided and conceded to qualified immigrants. The apothecary and surgeon, Robert Giffard de Moncel in the Perche, was the first to acquire a Quebec seigneury. Granted to him in 1634, his seigneurie was in the area presently called Montmorency County, east of the city of Quebec, with Chateau-Richer and L’Ange-Gardien, as two of the main communities. Giffard, who himself first went to Quebec in 1621, enlisted the aid of the brothers Jean and Noel Juchereau of Tourouvre to recruit people in the area for migration to Quebec. One historian has said that Noel was one of the Company of One Hundred Associates. In any case, Noel spent much of his time in Perche doing the actual recruiting and contracting of emigrants. Jean spent most of the time in the Province of Quebec on the receiving end of the migration. Apparently another Juchereau, Pierre, was active in France in readying the emigrants. The emigrants were often hired for a period of three years. Thus they were called “Les 36 Mois”. Most of the recruits were bachelors. They were to be paid from 40 to 120 livres per year. In addition they were provided transportation to Nouvelle France and were to receive some land. Most were unskilled and illiterate.

People in Le Perche had the resources to acquire adequate food and shelter. It was undoubtedly the adventure of trekking into the unknown or to make a new start in another world that attracted some of the residents to sign the contract.

By the time that Samuel de Champlain died in 1635, there were 132 settlers in the colony…35 of them were from Le Perche. Most of the departures occurred during the period 1634-1662.

The Journey

Something must be said about the courage of the people who made the perilous journey from France to the New World. These poor souls were subject to all sorts of perils: weather, pirates, and illness among the crew and themselves. With so many variables, the length of the trip could vary from one month to over three. For example, it took Jean Talon, 117 days to reach Québec in 1665, but a mere 35 days for the ship, Arc-en-ciel in 1678. From a navigational perspective, it was generally better to set sail from France before May 1.

Ships of the 17th century ships were generally smaller than 200 tonnes, so the accomodations on board were to say the least, modest. Food would often spoil due to water seepage and passengers had to settle for cold meals and soggy bedding. Despite all the hardships and perils most sailors and passengers arrived safely.

The first official mention of Robert Giguère in Canada is February 21, 1651 when he received a grant of land from Sieur Oliver le Tardif. Located in Beaupre, the grant had five arpents fronting on the Saint Lawrence River to a depth of a league and a half and, in addition to the annual rent of 20 sols and 12 deniers per arpent of frontage, it required Robert to establish a residence thereon within a year. If Giguère was in a position to accept such conditions, it may be assumed that he had been already in the country for some years and was familiar with the land, the climate, and was ready to settle down. However, a 1644 census in France found him absent from the country. Although there is no official record of his life in Canada prior to 1651, some historians feel confident that he arrived in New France as early as 1642 (Robert Giguère: Le Tourouvrain 1616-1711(??), 1979).

Marriage

On July 2, 1652, in the Notre-Dame de Québec Cathedral, Robert Giguère married Aymée Miville. He was 36 and she was 17. Men, then and there seldom married before the age of 30 and women were typically under 20. She was one of the daughters of Pierre Miville "The Swiss". He was a mercenary soldier who had served in the personal guard of Cardinal Richelieu. The marriage was notably attended by Jean de Lauzon, the governor of New France. This was indeed a great honour and an indication of the respect commanded either by Robert Giguère himself, or by his father in law, Pierre Miville. Indications are that Robert Giguère was a well respected member of the community...he had donated some land for the Basilica in Saint-Anne-de-Beaupré and diligently functioned as head vestryman for some time. He is regarded as a founder of Saint-Anne-de-Beaupré.

Robert and Aymée had 13 children...seven girls and five boys. Five of his children were married, and only four had children. Of the boys, Joseph, Martin and Jean-Baptiste had children. Joseph and Jean-Baptiste remained in Quebec. Joseph lived out his life in Saint-Anne-de-Beaupré, his descendants would later move across from Quebec City to the beautiful Ile D'Orleans. Jean-Baptiste settled in what is now Laprarie, Quebec and his descendants mostly come from Montreal. Martin, at some point moved to the United States settling in Minnesota, and virtually all Americans who call themselves Giguère are descended from Martin.

Today there are no direct descendants of Robert Giguère in Tourouvre, however, there are thousands of his descendants in North America.

Trivia

Robert Giguère's son, Jean-Baptiste, may have been involved in the burning of Schenectady in 1690. He may have have functioned as a scout on the raid. According to, Monseignat, governor Louis de Buade de Frontenac's secratary in his description the Schenectady massacre..."A Canadian named Giguère, who had gone with nine Indians to reconnoitre, now returned to say that he had been within sight of Schenectady, and had seen nobody." In his book, "Un Giguère a la guerre avec Iberville" Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville, Georges-Emile Giguère presents evidence to prove that the "Giguère" mentioned was Robert's son, Jean-Baptiste. The same Jean-Baptiste may also have been among those who built Fort Detroit.

Variations of Spelling

Here are some of the most common variations of the name Giguère in use today throughout America... Giddière, Gidier, Gignier, Gignière, Giguair, Giguaire, Giguèr, Giguèrre, Giguèrres, Giguert, Giguet, Giguery, Giguir, Gidière, Giguiar, Giguier, Giguière, Giguières, Giguièrres, Giguère, Giguir, Gigyere, Jigger etc...

See also

• Jean-Sébastien Giguère

External links

Perche Canada

[Pierre Miville]

[Robert Giguere and Aymée Miville]

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