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Pierre Boucher

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Pierre Boucher de Boucherville
File:Pierre Boucher.jpeg
Governor of Trois-Rivières
In office
1653–1658
Monarch Louis XIV
Preceded by Jacques Leneuf de la Poterie
Succeeded by Jacques Leneuf de la Poterie
In office
1662–1667
Monarch Louis XIV
Preceded by Jacques Leneuf de la Poterie
Succeeded by René Gaultier de Varennes
Personal details
Born Pierre Boucher
born and baptized August 1, 1622
Mortagne-au-Perche, France
Died April 19, 1717 (aged 94)
Boucherville, Canada
Occupation settler, soldier, governor, naturalist, historian
Known for L'histoire veritable et naturelle des moeurs et productions du pays de la Nouvelle-France, vulgairement dite le Canada, Governor of Trois-Rivières

Pierre Boucher de Boucherville (born Pierre Boucher [pjɛʁ buʃe]; 1 August 1622 – 19 April 1717) was a French settler, soldier, officer, naturalist, official, governor, and ennobled aristocrat in Nouvelle-France or New France (in what is now Canada). He is a direct ancestor of Pope Leo XIV.

Early life

Pierre was born at Mortagne in Perche, France (Orne). He emigrated from France to New France in 1635 at the age of 13 with his father, Gaspard Boucher, a carpenter, his mother Nicole Lemer,[1] and at least six siblings. Gaspard had sold his farm in Mortagne in 1634 in answer to a call for emigrants to settle in New France from Robert Giffard. Gaspard was hired by the Jesuits to work at the Notre-Dame-des-Anges farm.[1]

Pierre was the oldest surviving son of his parents. In 1637 at the age of 15, he entered the services of the Jesuits and spent four years with the Huron missions at Georgian Bay (see Sainte-Marie among the Hurons), until 1641.[1] He spoke fluent Iroquoian languages, of which Huron is a dialect. On April 11, 1640, he was seriously injured during what is described as an uprising by the Huron at Téanaostaiaé, called St Joseph II by the Jesuits, and near present day Springwater, Ontario where Jean de Brébeuf and Pierre-Joseph-Marie Chaumonot were also injured.[1][2] He returned to Quebec.

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, 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. 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 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 New France by the French king, Louis XIV. Pierre Boucher was the first Canadian settler to be ennobled by King Louis XIV.[3]

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 centred on Boucherville on the south shore of the St Lawrence River near Montreal and extending out well into the Montérégie region. His lands also included parts of the North Shore extending out to la Mauricie and Trois-Rivières. 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 St Lawrence River. 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. One of his descendants is Pope Leo XIV.[4]

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, Des Rochés or DesRocher, 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, Mauritius, France, Brazil, and the West Indies, and include such prominent French-Canadians and French-Americans as Paul André Albert and Jade Raymond, along with world figures like Pope Leo XIV.

Issue

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

Publications

See also

From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia

Pierre Boucher — Born at Lagny, a village near Mortagne in the Perche, France, 1622, died at Boucherville, 1717. In 1634 he went to Canada with his father Gaspard Boucher, a simple joiner. At the age of eighteen he entered the service of the Jesuit Fathers and went to their Huron missions at Georgian Bay. On his return to Quebec in 1641 he served as a soldier in the garrison of that city. In 1645 he was interpreter of Indian languages at Three Rivers and in 1648 commissary-general of the trading station at that place. Elected captain of the militia in 1651, while in command of the place during an interim in 1653 he repelled an Iroquois attack. Owing to his efficient defence he was placed in charge of the city, and retained the position until 1658. In 1661 he was sent to France to represent the needs of the colonies and plead the cause of the inhabitants. On his return to Canada, in 1662, he was reappointed Governor of Three Rivers, an office which he only resigned in 1667 when he withdrew from public affairs to found the seigniorial parish called after his name Boucherville, situated opposite Montreal. He was succeeded in the governorship of Three Rivers by his son-in-law, René Gauthier de Varennes, forbear of the discoverer of Western Canada.

In 1664 Pierre Boucher had printed at Paris by the press of Florentin Lambert "L'histoire veritable et naturelle des moeurs et productions du pays de la Nouvelle-France, vulgairement dite le Canada". This work was published in 1849 in "L'Album Canadien", in 1882 at Montreal, and in 1896 in the "Mémoires de la Société Royale du Canada". An English translation appeared in 1883. Pierre Boucher is considered the best type of a Canadian landed proprietor, filled with piety, rectitude, and honor. At his death he left a numerous posterity. The family is still in existence, and the highest stations are filled by members bearing the names Boucherville, Bruere, Niverville, Grosbois, and Montizambert. Pierre Boucher was the first Canadian colonist to be ennobled by King Louis XIV. His letters of nobility, dated 1661, were renewed in 1707.

Registres des insinuations du Conseil superieur de la Nouvelle-France, III, D, 46, DANIEL Grandes familles canadiennes; SULTE, Pierre Boucher et son livre in Royal Society of Canada, Transactions, new series, II, 99 148; LALANDE, La paroisse de Boucherville (1890); ROY, Histoire de la seigneurie de Louzon, I, II,

References

  1. Back to citation occurrence 1.0 Back to citation occurrence 1.1 Back to citation occurrence 1.2 Back to citation occurrence 1.3 Douville, Raymond (1969). Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 2 (Boucher, Pierre ed.). University of Toronto/Université Laval. Retrieved 7 July 2026.
  2. Back to citation "The missions in Huronia". Cartier-Brebeuf National Historic Site. Parks Canada. Retrieved 7 July 2026.
  3. Back to citation Roy, Joseph Edward (1907). Pierre Boucher. Vol. 2. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved April 19, 2016.
  4. Back to citation Deer, Tehosterihens (14 May 2025). "Pope Leo XIV may have ties to Quebec through maternal lineage: researchers". CityNews Everywhere. Retrieved 17 May 2025.
  5. Back to citation Child, Christopher C. "The Pope's French–Canadian Cousins". Vita Brevis. Retrieved 2026-05-21.
  6. Back to citation Laurence, Jean-Christophe (2025-05-14). "Léon XIV aurait de très « probables » origines québécoises". La Presse (in Canadian French). Retrieved 2025-05-17.
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