[51] (p. [217]).—Pierre Chastellain and Charles Garnier arrived at Quebec with Montmagny, June 11, 1636; and on July 21 they left Three Rivers with the Indian trading canoes, to join the mission in the Huron country. Both were attacked by the smallpox in the following September, but in due time recovered their health. Chastellain labored at Ihonatiria about two years; was at Ossossané in 1638-39; then at St. Joseph (Teanaustayé). In November, 1640, he was left in sole charge of the residence of Ste. Marie-on-the-Wye, and was there in 1644. The Journ. des Jésu. mentions him as officiating at Quebec from December, 1650, to March, 1664. The Hurons called him Arioo.
[52] (p. [217]).—Charles Garnier was born May 25, 1606, and became a Jesuit novice Sept. 5, 1624, at Paris. His studies were pursued at Clermont, 1626-36, except while he was an instructor at Eu (1629-32). In 1636 he came to Canada (see note [51], ante), and labored among the Hurons. In November, 1639, he went with Isaac Jogues on a mission to the Tobacco Nation; but this tribe feared them as sorcerers, owing to the calumnies of certain Hurons, and after a few months the Jesuits were driven away, and obliged to return to the Huron missions. A year later, Garnier, with Pierre Pijart, made another though similarly unavailing attempt to reach this tribe. But in 1647 a third effort proved successful, and Garnier, with several assistants, established in the Tobacco Nation two missions, St. Jean and St. Mathias. These were highly prosperous until Dec. 7, 1649, when the town of Etarita (St. Jean) was destroyed by an Iroquois band, most of the inhabitants killed or made prisoners, and Garnier himself slain. The Relation for 1650 (chap. iii.) gives a long account of the life, death, character, and devoted piety of this missionary. Among the Hurons he was known as Ouaracha (Waracha). Two of his brothers were also priests—Henry a Carmelite, and Joseph a Capuchin.
[53] (p. [219]).—Upon the death of Champlain (see note [50], ante), a temporary successor was appointed, Marc Antoine de Brasdefer, sieur de Chasteaufort, the commandant of the new post at Three Rivers, whose commission had been for some time in the hands of Le Jeune—the former, according to Kingsford (Canada, vol. i., p. 149), having "been appointed to act as Governor in case of any extraordinary event. The Jesuit Father had accordingly possessed the unusual power of superseding Champlain, when he had deemed it advisable." Chasteaufort accordingly administered the affairs of the colony until the arrival of Montmagny (June, 1636). He then resumed command of the post at Three Rivers, where he still was in February, 1638.
[54] (p. [221]).—M. de Courpon was admiral of the fleet of Canada in 1641. Sulte says (Can.-Français, vol. ii, p. 119, note) that De Courpon, in that year, gave his own surgeon to Maisonneuve for the new colony at Montreal.
[55] (p. [221]).—Nicolas Adam, four days after his arrival (June 12, 1636), was seized by a fever which brought on a stroke of paralysis, disabling his hands and feet. In the Relation for 1637 (chap. xv.) he relates how he was cured, after an illness of three months, by a novena of communions in honor of the Virgin. He remained at Notre-Dame des Anges, giving religious instruction to the residents there. In the summer of 1642, he returned to France, at the command of his superiors; according to Rochemonteix (Jésuites, vol. i., p. 433, note), because he could not learn the Indian language.
[56] (p. [221]).—Ambroise Cauvet, a lay brother, is mentioned by Journ. des Jésu. as at Quebec in 1645, 1646, and 1648, employed in various ways as a domestic and artisan; he returned to France Sept. 18, 1657.
[57] (p. [221]).—The Norman families of Le Gardeur and Le Neuf (allied by marriage) came together to Canada with Montmagny (June, 1636), and were prominent and influential among the early colonists. Catherine de Cordé, widow of René le Gardeur, sieur de Tilly, came with two sons and a daughter; and Jeanne le Marchant, widow of Mathieu le Neuf de Hérisson, brought two sons and two daughters. Some of these had also wives and children; in all, they numbered 18 persons; Sulte gives a list of their names and relationships in Can.-Français, vol. ii., p. 60. The remainder of the 45 persons mentioned in the text probably included their servants, and families brought over as colonists.
Pierre le Gardeur, sieur de Repentigny, (born about 1610?) had at this time three children, and fixed his residence at Quebec. During 1642-47, he was commander of the Canadian fleet of the Hundred Associates; and in his care Dauversière placed the provisions, arms, and other supplies purchased by the latter for the colony of Montreal (1642). In the autumn of 1644, Le Gardeur and Jean Paul Godefroy (afterwards his son-in-law), went to France as delegates from the inhabitants of Canada, to obtain from the government some restriction of the fur-trade monopoly hitherto enjoyed by the Company of New France; they also requested that Récollets might be sent to Canada as parish priests, for the benefit of the French population—the Jesuits being mainly missionaries to the Indian tribes. The latter effort failed; but the fur trade was ceded by the company to the French colonists of the St. Lawrence valley; the latter were obliged to support their government, the garrisons, and the religious establishments, and to pay the company 1,000 pounds of beaver skins annually as a seignorial rent. For particulars of this arrangement, see Ferland's Cours d'Histoire, vol. i., pp. 338, 339; the royal decree confirming it (dated March 6, 1645) is given in Édits du Conseil du Roi concernant le Canada (Quebec, 1854), pp. 28, 29. Other decrees (March 27, 1647, and March 5, 1648) reorganized the government, and granted a considerable degree of autonomy to the inhabitants.—See Ferland, ut supra, pp. 356-358, 363-365; and Sulte's Can.-Français, vol. iii., pp. 7, 8, 14; cf. Faillon's Col. Fr., vol. ii., pp. 92-94.
Pierre le Gardeur had done much to bring about these political changes; but, for some reason, he opposed the new ordinances, so strongly that he was superseded in the command of the fleet. Departing immediately afterwards for Canada, he died at sea (July, 1648), from an epidemic disease that prevailed on shipboard. He had obtained from the Company of New France (April 16, 1647) two concessions on the St. Lawrence—the seigniory of Lachenaye, and that afterwards known as Cournoyer, opposite Three Rivers.
[58] (p. [221]).—Jacques le Neuf de la Poterie (born 1606) came to Canada in 1636, with Pierre le Gardeur, whose sister Marguerite was his wife (see note [57], ante). In the preceding January, De la Poterie had obtained a grant of the seigniory of Portneuf, above Quebec, on which he made improvements, and where at first he resided. He was governor of Three Rivers during November, 1645-August, 1648; June, 1650-August, 1651; September, 1652-July, 1653; and July, 1658-December, 1662. In 1649, he purchased a fief at Three Rivers from Champflour; and in the same year he obtained a grant of the Isle aux Cochons, at the mouth of the St. Maurice River. About this time, he was active in the organization of a volunteer militia. In 1665, De Mézy (then governor of New France) a few days before his death gave De la Poterie a commission appointing the latter as his successor, in case of that event; but the council refused to recognize his authority, excepting over the militia. In October, 1666, he went to France; but it is not known whether he returned thence.