Zacharie Cloutier

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Note :

Ils immigrent a Quebec le 10 juin 1634
Engagé le 14 mars 1634 à Mortagne par Robert Giffard
Concession de l'arrière-fief de LaCloutièrerie dans Beauport le 14 mars 1634, vendu à Nicolas Dupont le 20 décembre 1670
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Zacharie Cloutier peut être considéré à juste titre comme l’ancêtre de tous les francophonesd’Amérique.
Il est né en 1590 à Mortagne, dans le Perche, en France.
Il y épousa Xainte Dupont et ils émigrèrent en Nouvelle-France en 1634 avec leurs cinq enfants.
A son arrivée au pays, Zacharie est âgé de quarante-quatre ans. Il s’établit, avec sa famille, dans la seigneurie de Robert Giffard, à Beauport.
Il y prend possession d’une terre le 29 mai 1644.

Peu de temps après, il déménage à Château-Richer où il vivra le reste de ses jours.
Occasionnellement, Zacharie Cloutier viendra prêter main-forte pour effectuer des travaux de maçonnerie et de menuiserie dans de gros ouvrages.
Au recensement de 1667, il a 77 ans, Xainte en a 71 et ils ont deux bestiaux.
Il trépassa à l’automne de l’année 1677. Il était âgé de 87 ans. Son fils Zacharie continuera la culture de la terre paternelle.

Des cinq enfants Cloutier, trois fils se marièrent à Château-Richer. Les générations suivantes se dispersèrent peu à peu et s’étendirent à travers toute l’Amérique.

 

Zacharie Cloutier est né dans la paroisse de Mortagne au Perche en 1590, fils de Denis Cloutier et Renée Brière. Charpentier de son métier, il épouse à Mortagne, le 18 juillet 1616, Xainte ou Sainte Dupont, qui est de six ans sa cadette.
Tous les Cloutier d'Amérique sont d'une seule souche. Le couple a six enfants, tous nés à Mortagne entre 1617 et 1632, mais une fille décède à l'âge de dix ans.
Jean Guyon futur sieur du Buisson, est, avec Zacharie, cosignataire d'un contrat d'engagement, le 14 mars 1634, pour partir vers la lointaine Nouvelle-France. Au début juin, nul autre que Samuel de Champlain, est là pour accueillir toutela famille Cloutier.
Une concession de mille arpents lui est concédée officiellement le 3 février 1637 et s'appelle le fief de la Clouterie, ou Cloutièrerie, à Beauport.
Les cinq enfants Cloutier ont une belle et vaste progéniture, et tous ont un lien dans la présente généalogie.
La première à fonder une famille est Anne Cloutier, baptisée le 19 janvier 1626, à St-Jean de Mortagne. Elle devient l'épouse en 1637, âgée d'à peine 11 ans, du pionnier Robert Drouin , après avoir signé le 27 juillet 1636, le premier contrat de mariage, de la Nouvelle-France.
L'aîné, Zacharie Cloutier, baptisé le 16 août 1617, à Mortagne, du même prénom que son père, se marie lors d'un passage en France, en 1648, avec Madeleine Émard. Le couple revient dans la colonie avec deux soeurs de celle-ci, Barbe âEmard qui se marie au fondateur de Beaupré, l'ancêtre Olivier LeTardif et, Anne Émard avec l'ancêtre Guillaume Cousture . Le couple Cloutier/Émard a huit enfants dont quatre enfants forment des branches nous reliant à l'ancêtre. Barbe Cloutier épouse Charles Bélanger , en 1663; René Cloutier, né en 1651, épouse Marie-Élisabeth Leblanc, en 1672; Marie-Madeleine Cloutier avec Jean Bouchard , dit Dorval, en 1676. Et le quatrième, Charles Cloutier, né en 1662, épouse Anne Thibault, en 1685.
Le deuxième fils, Jean Cloutier, baptisé le 13 mai 1620, à St-Jean de Mortagne, épouse en 1648, Marie Martin, née en 1635, fille de l'ancêtre Abraham Martin et Marguerite Langlois. Trois enfants du couple forment des liens. Un fils, Jean Cloutier en 1679, avec Louise Bélanger ; et deux filles, Marie Cloutier, en 1671 avec Jean-François Bélanger , puis le troisième enfant, Xainte Cloutier avec Charles Fortin , en 1681.
Un troisième fils du couple Zacharie et Sainte Dupont, Charles Cloutier, baptisé le 3 mai 1629, à Mortagne, épouse en 1659, Louise Morin, née en 1643, fille de l'ancêtre Noël Morin et de Hélène Desportes. Trois enfants nous concernent, Élisabeth-Ursule Cloutier avec Nicolas Gamache, en 1676; Jeanne Cloutier avec Claude Gravel , en 1687, puis; Joseph Cloutier en 1733, avec Madeleine Lefebvre .
La cinquième enfant, Marie-Louise Cloutier baptisée le 18 mars 1632, à Mortagne, veuve de François Marguerie, noyé en face de Trois-Rivières avec Jean Amyot , épouse en secondes noces, en 1648, l'ancêtre Jean Mignault , dit Châtillon, né en 1630, à Paris.
L'ancêtre Zacharie décède en 1677, âgé de 87 ans et Xainte Dupont, trois ans plus tard. L'avenir de leurs descendants est assurés ainsi que la légende qui veut que dans toutes les familles Québecoises et francophones d'Amérique, il ya un peu de son sang, qui coule dans leurs veines.

On the 3rd of February 1637 Zacharie Cloutier took possession of the fief of land in what i s now Chateau Richer, as promised to them by Robert Giffard the Seigneur. They called their n ew fief, \"La Clouterie\". The sons of Zacharie along with other colonists were settled on th e territory extending from the river at Petit Pre to the river at Chiens which became the fut ure parish of Chateau Richer. The fief measured 693 arpents (about 1,100 acres) Zacharie was not a farmer and really had no interest in farming. He was a master carpenter, i n later years he was described as a \'bourgeois seigneur working as a master carpenter\". The f irst generations of Cloutiers established themselves in Chateau Richer. The families of succe eding generations dispersed little by little throughout the province, eventually many leavin g Quebec entirely. Among the interesting buildings in Chateau Richer two are of particular note. in Chateau Rich er was originally built by the Cloutiers in 1658, it was rebuilt in 1778 and finally replace d in 1865. Situated high on the bank of the escarpment overlooking the St. Lawrence, the orig inal church was part of the Seigneury of Beaupre and was commissioned by Sieur Oliver Tardif . The church was and still is the site of numerous religious functions involving Cloutier fam ilies many still living in Chateau Richer today. The second building is of equal interest. Located close to the bottom of the cliff on the Bea upre coast at the very eastern extreme of Chateau Richer is ( the Cloutier House ). This ol d rustic residence is certainly one of the finest specimens of typical early French-Canadia n architecture that can be found in Quebec. Originally it was the main house on what was know n as the \"Cloutier farm\" that was in the family since 1676 when Jean Cloutier III bought it f rom Nicholas Vereul who had obtained it from Pierre Gagnon. Since that time it was owned by s uccessive generations of Cloutiers being handed down from father to son for some 289 years. I n 1965 it was finally sold by Adelard Cloutier the last owner of that name. It has subsequent ly been restored with provincial grants in the hope it will last for another 300 years. Cardinal Richelieu, 1585 - 1642 ) became the most powerful person in France during the reig n of King Louis XIII. In part because Louis was a weak king and in part because Richelieu, hi mself, was so strong. Richelieu in his role as chief of the Royal Council, and later First Mi nister and Chief of State, had control of almost every facet of French politics, from the dai ly activities of the court to foreign policy and affairs. His dual role as head of the churc h in France and chief of state, allowed him to control the very direction he wished the gover nment to go. Under Richelieu the strategy of colonization was two fold. The Jesuits the strongest and mos t influential of the religious orders, established the goals of converting the Indians to Chr istianity. The thought was that the Indians, once converted, would become role players in th e settling of the land. The strategy proved unsuccessful, the Indians while in some cases acc epting Christianity, had no desire to give up their way of life. It soon became obvious tha t if the land was to become developed in the image of France, it would be through immigratio n using settlers from France, not through the integration of the Indian into the agricultur e or socio-economic structure of the French way of life. In France, Richelieu granted a charter to the Company of One Hundred Associates in 1627. Unde r the charter, the Company was granted full title to land extending from Florida to the Arcti c Circle. In return the Company was obliged to bring out 200- 300 settlers in 1628 and 4000 m ore during the next 15 years. The Company had an investment of 300,000 livres ( the livre being the basic monetary unit wor th about $2.00 US.) Unfortunately for the company, their first convoy of four ships and 400 settlers was capture d in the Gulf of St. Lawrence resulting in a total loss of supplies to the settlers already i n New France and the Company was forced to look at other means of colonizing. The French devised a scheme of Land Grants to persons of means. For gentlemen of France who h ad served their country well, huge grants of land were made in New France, but with these gra nts came certain obligations. The system known as the \'Seigneurial System\' obligated the \'Sei gneur\' to bring settlers out from France who then were given portions of the land grant in re turn for providing services to the \'lord\' (seigneur). The services were such activities as he lping the seigneur to develop his land, building the seigneurial mansion, government building s and churches.. In return the settlers received their passage from New France to the New Wor ld, a stipend identified by the \'contract\' signed before leaving France, and, where warranted , a portion of the land grant for the settler to farm on his own. Religion, however, did play a significant role in solidifying and maintaining the presence o f the church and the strong fabric of French society. The parish priests held together the co mmunities, keeping together the family units whose most important link was the parish church . Consequently the building of the local church held a high priority in every seigneury. It was here the early Cloutiers played so prominent a role. Zacharie Cloutier was recruited b y Giffard not for his potential as a farmer, but for his skills as a builder. He was firs t a carpenter but later also became a skilled mason as well. His responsibilities were to con struct the Government buildings, the Manor House, and the Parish church. Consequently he neve r did \'farm\' in the true sense of the word. After he completed his \'servitude\' with Giffard h e took his trade to other communities to build their churches. In short Cardinal Richelieu\'s policies with regard to the spread of Christianity, and his sei gneurial system approach to settlement molded well with the skills and ambitions of Zachari e Cloutier I who put these policies into practice in the new land. While not a Cloutier, Robert Giffard did more to affect the lives of not only Zacharie Clouti er I but also thousands of future Cloutiers than one can imagine. Robert Giffard was a surgeon and an apothecary ( one who dispenses medicines and drugs). He l ived at one time in both Mortagne and Tourouvre. He had served with on two of Champlain\'s voy ages of discovery in North America. Giffard was searching for prospective emigrants when he r eceived notice that he had been awarded the from the One Hundred Associates. This prestigious award of a massive land grant on the shores of the St. Lawrence River, nea r what is now Quebec City, brought with it some obligations. As Seigneur, Giffard was bound t o see that this area was settled and developed as part of the colony of New France. He had al ready been doing so but now it became imperative that he select not only good farmers and pot ential settlers, but also skilled tradesmen to enable him to build his Seigneurie, includin g the churches, and public buildings that would be essential to develop his newly acquired re alm. One of these artisans was , master carpenter. The second of only two skilled tradesmen was master mason. These two men were signed to speci al contracts as witnessed by the notary at La Rochelle on the 14th of March 1634. The contract of \'servitude\' which Cloutier and Guyon signed in joinder, in favor of Giffard , stipulated that Giffard would pay the passage plus food and lodgings for the two artisans p lus one family member each , for a period of three years to date from June 24th 1634. After t wo years the men would then be allowed to send for the rest of their families, also at the ex pense of Giffard. The Seigneur of Beauport ( Giffard ) agreed to give each man a few head of livestock to get s tarted farming, plus 1000 arpents of land. ( An arpent is about one and one quarter acres, th erefore 1000 arpents = 1250 acres of land ). Originally Zacharie had agreed to leave France with only his seventeen year old son Zachari e Jr., but obviously he changed his mind and brought his entire family with him. ( While ther e is no record to our knowledge, of any contractual change to have allowed this to happen, su ch was the stature of Zacharie and his importance to Giffard that it is obvious he was grante d this privilege). Some genealogists/historians suggest the original departure was from Dieppe - however a stain ed glass window in the Cathedral in Tourouvre shows clearly that the original departure was f rom New Rochelle in March 1634 with a stop in Dieppe. Hence, technically, the last point of d eparture from France was indeed Dieppe.) On June 4th, 1634, after a voyage of two long months the passengers disembarked at the tiny h amlet the colony of Quebec was at the time. By the 22nd of July 1634, master carpenter Cloutier was hard at work along with his colleagu e Jean Guyon building the manor house for Giffard as well as the parish church and Fort St. L ouis in Quebec.

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