There were first of all the "lords", those who had received, by purchase or by gift, vast lands from the Company of the Hundred Associates. The oldest, Jacques Hertel had arrived in 1626 with Champlain, as an interpretor, and had remained with the Algonquins during the entire English occupation. In gratitude, the Hundred Associates had given him 100 hectares in Trois-Rivières and he had been the first to live there in 1634. Then, his compagnons, the Godefroy, Jean-Paul, Jean and Thomas, who also arrived at the same time, also interpretors living with the Algonquins for four years, had established themselves not very far from him.
There were also the all powerful Le Neuf, Jacques and Michel, voracious and well provided Normands who had arrived ready to purchase a seignory and lord's domains. They had landed in 1636 with the family and in-laws of Legardeur, having but one goal: to make money.
Along side these vultures, the noble figure of Pierre Boucher was a sight to behold; son of a carpenter from Quebec. Pierre had been educated by the Jesuits who had made him spend four years with the Hurons so that he would be fluent in the Indian language and customs. Upon his return, at nineteen years old, he had become interpretor for Governor Montmagny, but especially his faithful adjunct, and it is in this capacity that he had played a first rate role in the peace treaty with the Mohawks in 1645. As a reward, he had received a domain of twelve hectares. With the new attacks by the Iroquois, Pierre Boucher had been named Town Captain.
Other notable families: the Chouart, better known under the name of origin "Des Groseillers"; Médard Chouart also had spent some time with the Hurons but he was not contented at being an interpretor; his business acumen would bring him into the exploration of the great North. He lived in Trois-Rivières since 1651.
Then came the families of the interpretors: François Maguerie, Pierre Pépin, Étienne de Lafond, Gilles Trottier, the widow of the sadly missed Jean Nicolet and his children, and then the workers and artisans: Guillaume Isabel and Sébastien Dodier, emplyees of Le Neuf, Christophe Crevier, the baker from Rouen who came in 1639, Jacques Ménard the wheelwright, the Fafard, a family of merchants from Évreux, some soldiers, the missionary Jacques Buteux, and finally a camp of Indians recently established on the south of the fort, with Sachem Pachiniri, Algonquin Chief. The above mentioned made up the population of the trading post at the moment of the Huron collapse: not more than a hundred persons including the Algonquins.
Translated by Norm Léveillée, December 2000.
Reprinted with permission:
"Bonjour M. Léveillée, Vous avez la permission de traduire et d'utiliser l'article en mentionnant la source et la référence. Micheline Perreault Directrice générale" Email 12/18/2000http://www.sgcf.com/index.html