Four hundred years ago today, on June 14, 1617, Louis Hébert, his wife Marie Rollet, their three-year-old son Guillaume, their two daughters Guillemette and Anne, who were nine and fourteen, and Marie’s brother Claude Rollet disembarked from their ship, the Saint-Étienne, at Tadoussac in New France.
Louis Hébert Monument, Montmorency Park, Quebec. Photo: Guillaume Couillard, Wikimedia Commons.
Three months earlier the family from Paris had set sail from Honfleur, France. According to records, the passengers lived in constant fear of death as their ship sailed through large masses of ice.
The family settled in Quebec City, and they are recognized as the first Europeans to settle and support themselves from the soil in New France.
Less than ten years after arriving, in the winter of 1626, Louis died as a result of an injury caused when he fell on a patch of ice. There seems to be something poetically Canadian — and tragic — about ice being the demise of the first European settler.
Two years after Louis’ death, Marie married Guillaume Hubou.
Statues of Louis Hébert, Marie Rollet, and their children stand prominently in Parc Montmorency overlooking the St. Lawrence River in Quebec City.
First French settled in Ste-Croix Island in 1604 with Samuel de Champlain and Pierre du Gua, sieur des Monts; then in Port Royal, Acadie in 1605.
I understand what you are saying. Still, Louis Hébert and Marie Rollet are recognized, rightly or wrongly, as the first Europeans to settle and work the land in New France. Yes, soldiers may have settled there for a period of time, but Hébert and Rollet were the first to farm. What was the occupation of the first French in Ste-Croix and who were they? Thanks for sharing.
There were several attempts to settle the area before 1604 as well. All, like the Ste-Croix settlement, failed due to disease and starvation. The settlement at Ste-Croix was moved to Port Royal about 1605. See Roger Riendeau. A Brief History of Canada (second edition), Facts On File, Inc, Infobase Publishing, New York, NY 2007.
Thanks for mentioning this. Something else for me to explore further.