Jean Cloutier

Family/Spouse: Louise Belanger. Louise was born in cir 1657. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Marie-Agnes Cloutier was born in cir 1698.

Notes:

Jean Cloutier was from the parish of Saint-Jean de Mortagne-au-Perche, Orne, France.

Jean married Marie Martin on 21 Jan 1648 in Québec, Canada. Marie (daughter of Abraham Martin and Marguerite Langlois) was born in cir 1625. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

The first to bear the name "Cloutier" were drop-forgers who specialized in the manufacturing of nails (clous), but the name became a true patronym in 1590, when Zacharie Cloutier was born in the parish of Notre-Dame de Mortagne, in Perche. He is the ancestor of all the Cloutiers in North America. His father, Denis, became a widower in May, 1608, then remarried Jeanne Gaultier (or Rahir) the following November. This second marriage brought four more children to the Cloutier family, for a grand total of 8.

On July 18, 1616, master carpenter Zacharie Cloutier married Sainte Dupont, a widow 6 years younger than himself. They had 6 children together before leaving for New France in 1634. Born and baptized in Saint-Jean de Mortagne, five of the children accompanied their parents on this adventure to the New World: Zacharie, born in 1617; Jean, in 1620; Anne, born in 1626; Charles in 1629; and Louise, in 1632. Sainte, born in 1622, had died at the age of 10.

While this family could have enjoyed the comfortable life of trades people, they were suddenly intrigued by the adventures awaiting in New France. Robert Giffard, the new seigneur to whom colonial authorities had granted the Beauport seigneury, was in charge of populating this land. For this man from Perche, nothing was more pressing than to recruit men known to be hard-working and highly-skilled.

Zacharie Cloutier, along with Jean Guyon, the future Sieur du Buisson and father of the Dion family, signed a contract drawn up on March 14, 1634 before notary Mathurin Roussel in Mortagne. The master mason and the master carpenter signed up to leave for Canada, each with one of their children. The four were provided with room and board for a period of three years, beginning June 24, 1634. After two years, the men could send for the rest of their families, the travel expenses to be paid by the seigneur of Beauport. Giffard guaranteed the men excellent benefits, for over and above the several head of livestock he agreed to provide them, he also built them a house on the 1,000 arpents of land they had been granted.

In March, 1634, several recruits bid farewell to Mortagne and Perche. T he future settlers were not leaving alone. Robert Giffard, Marin and Gaspard Boucher, Jean Guyon and Zacharie Cloutier all left with their wives and children. There were some unwed men and women among them as well, such as Thomas Giroux, François Bélanger, Claire Morin and Jeanne Mercier. In Dieppe, 8 more people joined this group of 35. Finally, on May 31, 1634, their vessel reached Tadoussac, and the following June 4, they landed in Québec. Three years later, on February 3, 1637, the Guyons and Cloutiers officially took possession of their fiefs, one of which was named "du Buisson", and the other "La Clouterie". In December of that same year, the land was officially divided into two equal concessions of 1,000 arpents each. This is one of the first times we see Cloutier's mark, as he "signs" by drawing "the shape of a harrow or flail."

From that moment, Cloutier was free to work where he pleased and he was contracted to "build the roof framework and attic for half of the building and community of the (nursing) Sisters" in Québec. The next year, he worked on the construction of Guillaume Couillard's house and in 1643, with Noël Langlois, he supplied boards for the Company of One Hundred Associates. The Cloutier family life became a little more eventful, beginning with Anne's marriage to Robert Drouin. Their contract, which was drawn up in the home of Giffard on July 27, 1636, was the first to be signed in Canada. In 1645, Louis Cloutier married the interpreter, François Marguerie and, after his death, she married Jean Mignault dit Chatillon on November 10, 1648. She married for the third time in 1648, this time to Jean Matteau. In 1648, Jean Cloutier married Marie Martin, daughter of Abraham Martin and Anne Langlois. Anne Cloutier died on February 4, and her two daughters, Jeanne and Geneviève, were raised by Jean Cloutier and his wife. At that time, Zacharie Le Jeune was in France, along with Olivier Le Tardif and others. On March 29, 1648, in La Rochelle, Zacharie signed a contract to marry Madeleine Esmard and their wedding was held in La Rochelle on April 4, 1648. In 1659, Charles Cloutier followed suit by marrying Louise Morin. Discovered among the Racine family documents was a letter written in 1669 by Father Paul Ragueneau, who speaks highly of the Cloutier family. He wrote to Marguerite Martin: "Jean Cloutier and your dear sister always lived according to their consciences and maintained a peaceful home, and I would be utterly surprised if they deviated from their ways (...). These good people of Beauport will not be forgotten, neither Zacharie, not Xaintes, not Charles Cloutier and his dear wife Louise, nor their little granddaughters Geneviève and Jeanne Drouin."

Zacharie Cloutier died in Château-Richer on September 17, 1677 and was buried the next day. Sainte Dupont died on July 13, 1680 and was buried with Zacharie the following day.


See also:
https://www.tfcg.ca/zacharie-cloutier-sainte-dupont
https://www.perche-quebec.com/perche/individus/cloutier-zacharie-en.htm
http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/cloutier_zacharie_1E.html

Zacharie married Sainte Dupont on 18 Jul 1616 in Saint-Jean de Mortagne, Perche, Orne, France. Sainte was born in cir 1596; died on 13 Jul 1680 in Château-Richer, Montmorency, Québec, Canada; was buried on 14 Jul 1680 in Château-Richer, Montmorency, Québec, Canada. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Also Known As: Xainte

Notes:

Abraham Martin dit l'Écossais (the Scot) gave his name to the Plains of Abraham in Québec, first a "cartage road," which was made available for public use on June 20, 1667. Born sometime after 1589, Abraham Martin's origin is unknown. In 1976, researcher Albert H. Ledoux published the results of a discovery made in Dundee, near Edinburgh, Scotland. Some of the Martins, French people from Metz, in Lorraine, were living there and one had the same first and last names as the Québec pioneer. This perhaps explains the surname given to Abraham Martin, who landed in New France between 1614 and 1620. At the time, he was married to Marguerite Langlois. We assume that, as an employee of the Compagnie des Marchands (Company of Merchants), he would have crossed the Atlantic with his brother-in-law Pierre Desportes and his wife, Françoise Langlois. Abraham, who farmed, perhaps fished in the Gulf of the Saint-Laurent river, and was sometimes referred to as a navigator, is said to have given a drop of blood to every single French Canadian. The first two of his sons, Eustache and Adrien, died unwed, and the third, Charles-Amador, dedicated his life to the service of God. Five of his six daughters produced descendants: Marguerite with Étienne Racine, Hélène with Médard Chouart des Groseilles, Marie with Jean Cloutier, Madeleine with Nicolas Forget dit Despatis, and Anne with Jacques Ratté. Abraham Martin was involved in an unfortunate series of events recounted by the Jesuits on January 19, 1649: "The first death at the hands of the executioner was a young woman of 15 or 16, for thievery; at the same time Monsieur Abraham was accused of raping her and was sent to prison, his trial put off pending the arrival of the King's ships." Abraham Martin was buried on September 8, 1664, at the age of 75. Father Paul Ragueneau wrote, in a letter from Paris, dated December 18, 1669, to Marguerite-Racine: "I prayed God for your father. I was consoled to learn that he had the time to prepare himself well for death." Marguerite Langlois married René Branche on February 17, 1665. She died during the same year and was buried on December 19.

From the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online:

MARTIN, ABRAHAM (dit “l’Écossais” or “Maître Abraham”), pilot; b. 1589 in France; d. 8 Sept. 1664 at Quebec.

Martin arrived in New France with his wife, Marguerite Langlois, her sister Françoise and brother-in-law Pierre Desportes (the parents of Hélène Desportes) about 1620. Martin may have been of Scottish descent or he might have used the soe had been enrolled in military service or had been a member of an illegal organization: such names were used to avoid detection by officials looking for deserted soldiers or in case the records of an illegal organization were seized. It is also possible that he acquired the name because he had made several voyages to Scotland as a young man. There is some question as to whether Martin was really an official pilot or not, although he was referred to as “king’s pilot” in his own day. However, he did fish well down into the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

It is presumed that the Plains (or Heights) of Abraham are named after Martin. It is picturesquely said that the “Côte d’Abraham” was the path that Martin used to descend to the St. Charles River to water his animals. His property amountes in all, 12 received from the Compagnie de la Nouvelle-France in 1635 and 20 as a gift from Sieur Adrien Du Chesne, ship’s surgeon to Pierre Legardeur de Repentigny in 1645. This land was sold by the Martin family to the Ursulines in 1667. It is possible that this is the same Martin who was employed by Jean de Biencourt and Du Gua de Monts as navigator on the coast of Acadia, although he would have been very young at that time. When David Kirke captured Quebec in 1629 and left his brother Lewis as governor until 1632, Martin and his family stayed on. In his later years Martin fell in the estimation of his fellow citizens when he was accused of improper conduct with regard to a young girl in Quebec. He was imprisoned for this on 15 Feb. 1649.

As far as can be found from the records, Abraham Martin and Marguerite Langlois had nine or ten children. Anne Martin, born in France and married 17 Nov. 1635 to Jean Côté, was probably not Abraham’s daughter. Eustache, baptized 24 Oct. 1dodson of Eustache Boullé, was the first child born in Canada. Marguerite, born 4 Jan. 1624 and married 22 May 1638 to Étienne Racine, had many descendants, including the two bishops Racine*. Hélène, born 21 June 1627, was a god-daughter of Samuel de Champlain. She married first Claude Étienne in 1640 and on 3 Sept. 1647 Médard Chouart Des Groseilliers. Charles-Amador*, born 7 March 1648, the godson of Charles de Saint-Étienne de La Tour, was the second Canadian-born priest. It is possible that Brother Dominique Scot, spoken of in the Jesuit Relations as having gone to the Huron country as a young man, was also a son. It is also possible that a young man who is mentioned as having been in the Huron country at the same time (1634–35) was Eustache Martin.

Abraham + Marguerite Langlois. Marguerite died in Dec 1665; was buried on 19 Dec 1665. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Denis + Renée Brière. Renée died in May 1608. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]