It is not known when Jacques, our French ancestor arrived on the North American continent, but the earliest written record I have discovered thus far has been his marriage in 1730 in the village of Boucherville.
Boucherville was founded as a seigneurial parish in 1667 by Pierre Boucher, for whom the city was later named. Pierre Boucher came from Mortagne-au-Perche, Normandy, France. After having lived in Quebec City and Trois-Rivières, Boucher moved to the Percées Islands by the southern shores of Saint Lawrence River, where he founded Boucherville. Pierre Boucher begins farming but does not receive his seigneury until 1672 when he builds a palisade to protect the community from the Iroquois
The seigniory, lies on the south side of the St.
Lawrence Rivern and was in the county of Chambly; bounded W. by the fief
Tremblay, E. by the seigniory of Varennes and by Montarville in the rear. 114
arpents in front by two leagues in depth. Granted, 3d Nov. 1672, to Seiur
Boucher. The quality of the land, if not of the first class, was far above
mediocrity, being for the most part a lightish mould inclining towards sand,
and, with careful husbandry, by no means deficient in fertility. Nearly the
whole was under cultivation by the mid-18th century and generally
produced very good average crops of all sorts. - The wood remaining was
inconsiderable in quantity and only of inferior kinds. - Two small rivulets
that fall into the St. Lawrence partially water this seigniory towards the
front, one of which works the seignorial mill. There was no stream in the lower
part. – Eventually a main road led from the village of Boucherville to the
Richelieu and thence to Chambly: several other roads, well kept up, passed
through all the settled parts of the seigniory.
In
1680, the catholic church was established at Boucherville and named Sainte Famille. It is here that our ancestor spoke his
wedding vows. This church, made of wood, was
eventually replaced in 1712 by a building made of brick. It was replaced in
1801 by the current Sainte-Famille Church.
It was here that our ancestor was laid to rest on 11 November
1747 at the age of 55.
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