Guillaume Pelletier
(1599 - November 27, 1657)
Guillaume Pelletier (1599, St-Pierre dde Bresolettes, Tourouvre,Mortagne, Chartre, Perche, France - November 27, 1657, Beauport, Québec, Canada ) -- Age: 58
Pedigree Chart
Guillaume was the child of Éloi Pelletier and Françoise Matte
Occupation: Merchant and coalman.
Source of birth and death information - Genealogy of Canada/Québec.
Ancestor's Life Events
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Life of Guillaume Pelletier Guillaume Pelletier (1598-1657) Guillaume Pelletier was born in the former French province of Perche, which borders the provinces of Normandie, Maine, and Beauce. Birth in Bresolette It was in Bresolette that Guillaume Pelletier was born in 1598, son of Éloy Pelletier and Françoise Matte. Documents in France from that era, scanned by Mrs. Pierre Montagne (ref.), reveal that several Pelletiers lived in Bresolette at the same time, among whom were Mathieu, Jean, and Laurent. To our knowledge, Éloy had only one other son, Antoine, whom we learn about from documents in Canada, and who crossed the Atlantic to New France with Guillaume. Antoine was younger than his brother, marrying in Canada in 1647, whereas Guillaume arrived in the colony accompanied by his wife. Wedding in Tourouvre It was at the Church of Saint-Aubin, in Tourouvre, that “the marriage of Guillaume Pelletier, of the parish of Bresolette, and Michelle Mabille, daughter of Guillaume of this parish, was celebrated on the twelfth day of the aforementioned month and year” – which is to say, February 1619. Coal Merchant Like his father Éloy, Guillaume was a charcoal merchant. An act dated 1630 testifies to this fact: “Macé Guyot… yields to Jehan Maunoury and to Guillaume Pelletier, coal merchants, living in said Tourouvre, 106 cords of wood for the purpose of making coal. In exchange, Maunoury and Pelletier will deliver 175 coal pipes and will pay 4 gold coins.” It may be, however, that Guillaume had more than one job. From the Jesuit Journal of 1646, we know that he is “a logger, sawyer, carpenter, coalman, etc.” As we can see, Guillaume had so many wood related occupations that the Journal writer did not even complete the list! His Children According to the research of P.-A. Godbout, Mrs. Pierre Montagne found no more than three children in the Tourouvre archives born to Guillaume Pelletier and Michelle Mabille: Claude, born February 11, 1622, who was named in honor of his godfather, Claude Mabille, his mother’s brother; Guillaume, born February 26, 1624; and Jean, born June 12, 1627, whose godparents were Jehan Loyseau and Michelle Bahère, wife of Claude Mabille. In addition to these three children, Monsignor Tanguay mentions a daughter, Marie, who apparently married Julien Perreault in 1647. The two eldest children, Claude and Guillaume, apparently died at an early age; we find no further mention of them in the archives. Furthermore, at the time of their emigration from France, Guillaume and his wife only had one child with them, their youngest son, Jean. The Gobloteur Guillaume Pelletier had a nickname, “Gobloteur,” but whether he had this name in France or earned it in Canada, we do not know; the Jesuit Journal of 1646 mentions “the Gobloteur, named Guillaume Pelletier.” Use of this byname has not perpetuated to the 21st century, so we must consult the 1762 edition of Trévoux’s Dictionary, in which we find the word “gobelotor.” Coming from the word “gobelot” or “goblet,” meaning drinking mug, “gobelotor” means one who drinks often and, by extension, one who likes to laugh and sing. The English version of the Jesuit Journal translates “Gobloteur” as “Tippler,” or drunkard, but, even if this translation draws us to the same conclusions about Guillaume, it lacks the French nuances! Instead, we prefer the Trévoux definition, found also in Bélisle’s General Dictionary of the French Language in Canada, which recognizes the Gobloteur as a happy man who likes to drink, laugh, and sing! Guillaume Pelletier passed his byname along to his son, Jean, who in turn transmitted it to some of his descendants. Léon Roy, in his “Terre de l’Île d’Orléans,” mentions Jean Pelletier Gobleteux, who owned parcel number fifty-three in the parish of Saint-Pierre. This land, later conveyed to his son, René, was located between René Goubleu and Jacques Nolin. Roy comments, “We believe that this René Goubleu was none other than René Pelletier himself, son of Jean Pelletier, nicknamed “Gobloteux.” To our knowledge, “Gobloteur” is nowhere to be found among the names of Quebec today. Emigration in Canada Despite the fact that no written documents attest explicitly to how and why these pioneers left Perche, it seems obvious that Guillaume Pelletier, like many of his compatriots, came to Canada to answer to the call of Lord Robert Giffard, the first professional in the colony to come from that region. Guillaume was most likely hired by one of the Juchereau brothers, either directly or by one of their representatives; at the time, Noël and Jean Juchereau, associates of Giffard and members of the Company of New France, were making an increasing number of trips between Canada and Perche to recruit more and more colonists. In their absence, their half-brother, Pierre Juchereau, recruited settlers and signed contracts on their behalf. On March 8, 1641, Guillaume Pelletier and Michelle Mabille, residents of La Gazerie, sold a portion of their land to Robert Loyseau, and entered into a five-year lease agreement with Jean Rousseau, their brother-in-law, which included “any houses and all inheritance rights belonging to Michelle Mabille as well as those rights from the late Guillaume Mabille and Étiennette Monhée, her father and mother, to be in the possession of the said Rousseau during the said time, in consideration of fifteen pounds, which they have already received from the said Rousseau and of which payment they discharge him.” The context of the act is clear, and it is obvious why the Pelletiers called upon a notary to draw up these provisions: having liquidated all their assets – house, inheritances rights, and titles – they meant to depart. Familial obligations seem to have kept them from settling these matters sooner, but Michelle’s parents having died, the couple was free to leave. We can thus conclude that Guillaume Pelletier, Michelle Mabille, and their fourteen-year-old son, Jean, left for Canada in the spring of 1641. If, however, this is a miscalculation, it is not considerable, given that a notarial act dated October 5, 1642, establishes that the Pelletier family had indeed settled in New France some time before that date. Guillaume’s brother, Antoine, likely accompanied his brother to Canada; we know that Antoine drowned when his canoe capsized at Montmorency Falls in 1647. Hired hand or Habitant? Even if Guillaume did not come to New France under contract, evidence indicates that he was at the very least a hired hand, or engagé, commissioned for thirty-six months of service; having arrived in the colony in 1641, it was not until late 1644 that he purchased a parcel of land. Earlier, on April 17 of that year, Lord Robert Giffard had granted a concession measuring six arpents wide to Martin Grouvel, who, that autumn, sold the property to Guillaume Pelletier, who in turn gave it to his brother, Antoine; when Antoine died in October 1647, ownership of the land transferred back to Guillaume. It is easy to interpret Guillaume’s actions as those of an engagé who had decided to invest his earnings in some property. It seems, however, that even after this transaction, Guillaume continued an as engagé, as he immediately gave the land to his brother, instead of settling there himself. It is only after his brother’s death in 1647 that Guillaume seems to finally decide to establish himself on his property and, undoubtedly, exploit it himself. A Jack of All Trades It is easy to believe that, in the beginning, Guillaume worked in the colony as an artisan, as this would have merely been an extension of his occupation in France; his native Bresolettes, let us not forget, was situated in the very heart of an area populated by “coalmen, ironworkers, and loggers.” In short, even if it were only by an oral agreement or under a private contract, Guillaume was undoubtedly an engagé, and it is safe to assume that it was in large part because of his expert woodworking skills that he had been recruited. At that time, everything in the colony was still under construction. Speaking only about the Jesuits, we see in their Journal that they were in the process of building a residence and parish church at that time; the Jesuits are a prime example of a group hiring Guillaume Pelletier for his expertise as an artisan. In any case, the priests seem to have known him particularly well, as their Journal identifies him as a “logger, sawyer, carpenter, coalman, etc.” In Beauport In 1647, Guillaume Pelletier reclaimed possession of his land in the area of Montmorency Falls, which he had given to his brother, Antoine, in 1644. The Falls had not favored this younger Pelletier, and one might ask if he had dared tempt fate by getting his little canoe as close to the Falls as possible: on October 3, 1647, “Antoine Peltier, brother of Guillaume Peltier the Gobloteur, drowned when his canoe capsized close to his house in Saut de Montmorency.” The loss of his brother was undoubtedly difficult for Guillaume to accept, and even more so for Françoise Morin, whom Antoine had married only two months before, on August 17; the couple had had no children. Jesuit Barthélemy Vincent buried Antoine in Quebec on day of his death. Guillaume’s property in Beauport, by the Montmorency Falls, consisted of six arpents along the Saint Lawrence River; the Montmorency River limited his concession to thirty-four arpents in depth. In fact, because of the particular way in which Lord Giffard had chosen to distribute his concessions, each was limited in the south by the Saint Lawrence and in the north by the Montorency River. And, as the two rivers approached to meet at the end of the seigneury, the first concession, closest to the Falls, was only twenty arpents deep; the land of Guillaume Pelletier was second, and only extended inland thirty-four arpents; the concessions continued this way down the line until reaching the property of Jean Langlois, which was 116 arpents deep. Now, Guil-laume did not keep all of his land, and by 1655, Jean Mignaux had in his possession two arpents, part of which had been taken from Guillaume’s land. About Guillaume’s time at Beauport, we know little. In 1646, his nineteen-year-old son, Jean, volunteered for service with the Jesuits; he probably returned to his father that next year. In 1649, Jean married the young Anne Langlois, after which he settled on his father’s property in Beauport. In 1654, Anne presented Guillaume his first grandson, Noël Pelletier, the first Canadian-born descendant of this line of Pelletiers from Tourouvre; two years later, Guillaume saw the birth of his first granddaughter, Anne. A Respected Citizen Again turning to the Jesuit Journal, we see that on August 9, 1653, Guillaume is named assistant trustee in the Communauté des Habitants of Beauport; the priests spoke of it, mentioning that the group falls under their jurisdiction. This nomination is at once a great honor for Guillaume and an expression of the trust his fellow citizens of Beauport have in him. Thus, Guillaume Pelletier not only served the colony with his masterful woodworking skills, he was also productive, more or less anonymously, by his contributions to the Communauté des Habitants, where he gave freely of himself to further the economic life and policies of the young colony. Moreover, Guillaume was an educated member of his society, and, as Mrs. Montagne notes, he had a “good signature,” which she has found on a document among the archives in Tourouvre. Finally, Guillaume’s knowledge and experience as a former charcoal merchant undoubtedly entitled him to supervise the interests of the Communauté, whose foremost economic activity was to manage the fur trade in New France. His Death Four years after his appointment to the Communauté des Habitants, Guillaume Pelletier died at his home in Beauport at the age of 59, and on November 28, 1657, he was buried in Quebec. His widow, Michelle Mabille, died in Beauport and was buried in Quebec eight years later, on January 21, 1665, at the age of 73. At the time of his death, Guillaume did not leave a very large Canadian progeny; his son, Jean, had only given him two grandchildren. However, Jean and his young wife, Anne Langlois, eventually added seven children to their family, not counting two who died at birth; all but one of these children were born in the house in Beauport that Jean received from his father. Taken from “Histoire et généalogie de Guillaume Pelletier 1598-1657 et son fils Jean,” by Maurice Pelletier, s.j. (Montreal: Société généalogique Canadienne-Française, 1976; 24 pp). English translation by B.J. Shoja. 2003 |
Ancestor's Marriage(s) and Child(ren)
 married
Michelle Mabille
-- Date: February 12,1618 Place:
St-Aubin, France
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Family Group Record
for Guillaume Pelletier and Michelle Mabille
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Children:
Claude Pelletier (December 11, 1622, St-Aubin-de-Tourouvre, France - , )
Guillaume Pelletier (December 26, 1624, St-Aubin-de-Tourouvre, France - , )
Jean Pelletier dit Gobloteur (June 12, 1627, St Aubin de Tourouvre, France - February 24, 1698, Ste-Anne-de-la-Pocatière, Québec) |
Added: 6/27/2011 9:30:39 PM - 566
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