The Company of New France - La Compagnie des Cent- Associés
Cardinal Richelieu begins his rise to power in 1616. Politics at home in France keep him from looking across the Atlantic to France's colonies until much later. Finally, in 1627, Richelieu organizes La Compagnie des Cent-Associés, the Company of New France, with one hundred associates or partners, made up mainly of trade leaders. As organized, the Company is to own and exploit the vast regions of New France. It is to have perpetual monopoly of the fur trade and monopoly of all other trades for fifteen years. Two or three hundred settlers are to be sent yearly from France to the new colony. The Company is to support each new colonist for three years in return for his labor, and each settlement is to have three priests.
The Company owns all the land and has the right to grant estates to "Seigneurs" under the feudal laws of France. Many such grants are made, some to religious orders of priests and nuns, mostly to lay Seigneurs who, it is hoped, will settle on their estates and gather about them a community under feudal rule.
One such grant is made to Robert Giffard, a pharmacist from the Perche region. Giffard originally comes to Québec in 1621 on his own, returning to France in 1628. Later that year, after getting married, he signs on with the Company as Navy
Surgeon and begins a voyage back to Québec. The English, however, seize the ships, capture the passengers and bring them to England. After the 1632 Treaty of St-Germain-en- Laye, France formalizes its peace with England which guarantees France's rights in New France, and all prisoners are exchanged. Giffard returns to France.
In 1634, Giffard is named Seigneur of Beauport, just northeast of Québec City on the St-Lawrence River, across from the Ile d'Orléans. Giffard recruits settlers from his own French Province of Perche. Among his associates and principal recruiters are the Juchereau brothers, Noël, Jean, and Pierre, from the town of Tourouvre in Perche. They are very active in their work for the Seigneur Giffard. Up to eighty families are recruited for New France from the Tourouvre area, among them Guillaume Pelletier, one of the major Pelletier ancestors, as well as the families of Gagnon, Giguère, Tremblay, and Cloutier.
~ Associés des Familles Pelletier~
Cardinal Richelieu begins his rise to power in 1616. Politics at home in France keep him from looking across the Atlantic to France's colonies until much later. Finally, in 1627, Richelieu organizes La Compagnie des Cent-Associés, the Company of New France, with one hundred associates or partners, made up mainly of trade leaders. As organized, the Company is to own and exploit the vast regions of New France. It is to have perpetual monopoly of the fur trade and monopoly of all other trades for fifteen years. Two or three hundred settlers are to be sent yearly from France to the new colony. The Company is to support each new colonist for three years in return for his labor, and each settlement is to have three priests.
The Company owns all the land and has the right to grant estates to "Seigneurs" under the feudal laws of France. Many such grants are made, some to religious orders of priests and nuns, mostly to lay Seigneurs who, it is hoped, will settle on their estates and gather about them a community under feudal rule.
One such grant is made to Robert Giffard, a pharmacist from the Perche region. Giffard originally comes to Québec in 1621 on his own, returning to France in 1628. Later that year, after getting married, he signs on with the Company as Navy
Surgeon and begins a voyage back to Québec. The English, however, seize the ships, capture the passengers and bring them to England. After the 1632 Treaty of St-Germain-en- Laye, France formalizes its peace with England which guarantees France's rights in New France, and all prisoners are exchanged. Giffard returns to France.
In 1634, Giffard is named Seigneur of Beauport, just northeast of Québec City on the St-Lawrence River, across from the Ile d'Orléans. Giffard recruits settlers from his own French Province of Perche. Among his associates and principal recruiters are the Juchereau brothers, Noël, Jean, and Pierre, from the town of Tourouvre in Perche. They are very active in their work for the Seigneur Giffard. Up to eighty families are recruited for New France from the Tourouvre area, among them Guillaume Pelletier, one of the major Pelletier ancestors, as well as the families of Gagnon, Giguère, Tremblay, and Cloutier.
~ Associés des Familles Pelletier~