Glossary

apprenticeship
The apprenticeship was done under the guidance of a master, a man who was very knowledgeable and skillful at his craft. The master taught his trade to the young boys who became his apprentices. As he acquired more and more knowledge and experience, the apprentice first earned the title of companion before ultimately becoming a master himself, at which point he was free to ply his trade and to teach it.

biscuit
If we separate the word biscuit in its two components, we get "bis", which means "twice" and "cuit", which means "cooked" in French. The biscuit was the staple food for seamen, and it was baked at least twice in order to dry properly. It was made from a bread dough kneaded by hand. Because it was flat like beach rocks, called "galets" in French, the "biscuit" was also called galette. The seaman's biscuit weighed 6 ounces and it was his entire meal.

boucané
The words that are derived from boucan appeared during the XVIth century, after the voyages of the French explorers in the West Indies and in North and South America. Boucan first designated the wooden grid on which native peoples rested their meats and fish, which were cooked by the heat and smoke. Then came the words boucane to designate the smoke itself and boucané to describe this form of cooking which was used to preserve the flesh of animals.

Boucher, Pierre
Pierre Boucher was born in Mortagne, in the old province of the Perche, in today's Normandy, and was baptised on August 1, 1622. He came to Canada in 1635 with his father, Gaspard Boucher, his mother, Nicole Lemaire, his brother Nicolas and his sisters Marie and Marguerite. His youngest sister Madeleine was born during the crossing.
From 1637, at the age of 15, Pierre Boucher travelled in all parts of New France with the Jesuit missionaries. During these voyages of exploration, Pierre Boucher learned the languages of the Huron, Algonquin, Montagnais and Iroquois, and was thus able to act as interpreter. Because he was competent, honest and brave, the Governor of the colony gave him great responsibilities.
In 1644, at the age of 22, he settled in Trois-Rivières, and he became Governor of that city in 1653. He resigned his post in 1667 and founded Boucherville, where he died on April 19, 1717, at the age of 95.
Pierre Boucher married twice : first to Marie Ouebadinskoue, a Huron native; their marriage was childless. Then in 1652, he married Jeanne Crevier who bore him 15 children.
(sources: Nos Racines, DBC, Godbout, CEC Jeunesse, Jetté, Tanguay)

Boucherville
Boucherville is named after Pierre Boucher who settled there in 1667 after resigning as Governor of Trois-Rivières. At the time of his arrival, the territory of the future city was called the "Seigneurie des Iles-Percées" and it was owned by Pierre Boucher.
Boucherville is located on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River, facing the island of Montréal.
(sources: Nos Racines, DBC, CEC Jeunesse)

Brébeuf, Jean de
Jesuit missionary Jean de Brébeuf was born in France in 1593 and came to Canada in 1625. He explored Lake Huron and lived among the native community of the same name. He returned to France after Québec was taken by the Kirke Brothers, and returned to New France in 1633. He died in 1649 after being tortured by the Iroquois. Jean de Brébeuf is one of the Canadian martyr saints.

bushel
The bushel is a measure of capacity that was in use in France in the XVIIth century. It contained approximately 13 litres. This word was also used to designate an earthenware pot in the shape of a cylinder of varying dimensions. The bushels of pears and plums carried by the Boucher family were probably earthenware pots.

Cartier, Jacques
Jacques Cartier is the first French explorer who visited and described the coasts of Canada. Born in 1491, in Saint-Malo, Brittany, he took possession of Canada in 1534 in the name of the King of France. The following year, he sailed on the St. Lawrence River until he reached an island that the native peoples of Canada called Hochelaga. He named the island "Montréal". He returned to Canada in 1541 in an attempt to establish a French colony near was is today Québec City. His project failed and he never again sailed to the Americas. Sixty years passed before France's interest in what was to become New France was strong enough to send Samuel de Champlain.

catechism
The catechism is the set of rules governing the Christian faith, and it teaches the mysteries of religion and God's Commandments. It it is often presented as a series of questions and answers. For a long time, the texts of the catechism were used to teach children how to read and write.

Chomedey de Maisonneuve, Paul
Paul de Chomedey de Maisonneuve was born in France in 1612. In 1641, a group of devout people gave him the mission to found a colony consecrated to the Holy Virgin in New France, and to call it Ville-Marie. The group that he commanded with Jeanne Mance set foot on the island of Montréal on May 17, 1642. Maisonneuve was the Governor of the island until 1665, when he returned to France. He died in Paris in 1676.

Collège de Québec
At first, the Collège de Québec was a simple school founded by the Jesuit missionaries in 1635, for the French boys and the Hurons who had converted to Christianity. As soon as they could, the Jesuits transformed this school into a college and taught a curriculum similar to that of the collèges in France.

colony
The word "colony" brings to mind the custom of European nations who, after taking possession of a foreign territory, settled and governed it applying the same laws as in their mother land. France, England, Spain and Portugal acted this way in North and South America. In order to increase their influence and gain a stronghold on the conquered territories, they sent colonists to settle and start families.

coq
This is the Dutch name that was given to the cooks that worked on ships in the XVIIth century. This word was used in New France to designate the cooks that travelled with the missionaries. The English word cook is similar and has the same meaning, but not the same origin.

Damask robe
Damascus is the capital of Syria. It became famous in the Middle Ages for its great riches and the quality of the fabrics produced by its craftsmen. In the XVIIth century, embroidered silks from Damascus and their imitations were the most sought after and expensive in Europe.

denier
The denier is a coin that had currency in New France in the XVIIth century. The value of things was then calculated in deniers, in sols and in livres . There were twelve deniers to the sol and 20 sols to a livre. Other coins were used in the colony : the louis, the écu, the pistole and the guinea. In 1669, an old overcoat fetched 10 livres and you would have to spend up to 100 sols for a pair of shoes.

Dieppe
In the past, Dieppe was but a village in Normandy. The development of its harbour, which is open to the Atlantic ocean, transformed it into a thriving city and one of the most important French ports. In the early XVIIth century, Dieppe was a center of trade with New France. Four other ports are generally associated with the history of exploration, immigration and trade between France and Canada: Saint-Malo, Honfleur, Rochefort and La Rochelle.

emissary
An emissary is a person charged with a delicate, or even secret, mission. Emissaries take risks in order to get in touch with other people ou groups.

gangway
Small narrow removable deck that is put between the pier and the ship for access.

Gaspé
Gaspé is today the most important city in the Gaspésie region. That is where the explorer Jacques Cartier erected a cross in 1534, thus taking possession of Canada in the name of the King of France.

hearth
In a house, the hearth is that part of the chimney where the fire is lit. Before the invention of cooking stoves and ranges, food was cooked in large cauldrons suspended over the fire in the hearth.

hired man
In New France, the hired man signed a contract requiring him to stay in the service of another. In the XVIIth century, the duration of the contract was 3 or 5 years. This was a means by which newcomers could work and decide whether they would stay in the colony. During this period, the hired man was fed and lodged, and he received token wages. The first hired men were brought to the lands of a seigneur. Their work consisted of felling trees, cultivating the land and helping the settlers build their houses. When the period of the contract expired, they could become settlers themselves if they decided to stay in New France.

hold
The hold is located under the lowest deck of a ship. Being under the waterline, it is invisible when the ship is afloat. It is sometimes divided into compartments for the goods and the various materials used for repairing the ship and the sails.

Huault de Montmagny, Charles
Charles Huault de Montmagny was the first Governor of the colony of New France. He was granted the title in 1635 and he received the order to sail on January 15, 1636. He arrived in Québec on June 11.

icicle
Name given by the French travellers to the ice that wandered in the waters and even the icebergs encountered not far off the coast of Canada.

Jesuits
Jesuits are members of a religious order called la Compagnie de Jésus, which was founded by Ignatius of Loyola in 1534. The Jesuits arrived in New France after the Récollets. These two orders both answered the invitation of Samuel de Champlain, who wanted the peoples of Canada to be converted to catholicism.

Kirke
In 1628, David Kirke demanded that Samuel de Champlain surrender Québec. Upon the refusal of the founder of the city, David's brothers Louis and Thomas took possession of Fort Saint-Louis and the Habitation in the name of the King of England on July 22, 1629. The French left Québec on September 14, 1629, leaving behind but a few settlers. Four years later, the  Kirke Brothers left the colony as France recovered New France.

league
The league is an ancient measure of distance on land. One league was approximately 4 kilometers.

Le Jeune, Paul
Paul Le Jeune is a Jesuit missionary who arrived in New France at the end of 1632. He was the superior of the Jesuit mission in Canada until the arrival of his successor, Father Barthelémy Vimont. He is the first writer of the Relation des Jésuites, a journal which describes very accurately the explorations and the main events that happened in New France.

Mance, Jeanne
Jeanne Mance was born in France in 1606. Having heard that a colony was planned on the island of Montréal, she told Paul de Chomedey de Maisonneuve that she wished to go with him and helped with the preparations for the trip. They arrived in Montréal (Ville-Marie) on May 17, 1642 after spending many months in Québec. They were accompanied by some forty people, settlers, workers and soldiers. Jeanne Mance was responsible for treating the sick and she founded the Hôtel-Dieu, Montréal's first hospital, in 1643. She died in that city in 1673.

maple
The maple tree is found everywhere in Québec. The French who came to New France in the XVIIth century discovered that the sap of this tree is edible. Each spring, the peoples of Canada slit the bark of the maple tree to collect the "sweet water". The French learned to drink this sap and later, thanks to their metal utensils, how to boil it, first into a syrup and then into sugar. Maple sugar and the cane sugar imported from the French Antilles were both used for table sugar. It is only at the end of the last century that the pasteurizing process made it possible to preserve the syrup, which enabled year-long trade.

mission
The verb "to mission" was used by the missionaries to describe their main activity. This term is still in use today.

missionary
Missionaries were men and women of the cloth sent on a mission in foreign countries.

Mississippi
The source of the Mississippi River is in the Great Lakes and it ends its journey in the Gulf of Mexico. It is the longest river in North America. French explorers Louis Jolliet, Jacques Marquette and Robert Cavelier de La Salle were the first Europeans to explore it.

mitten
Name given by the French colonists to a glove with no other finger but the thumb.

Mortagne
Mortagne was the capital of the old province of the Perche. Some of the first hired men for New France were recruited in the neighbouring villages, Tourouvre and La Ventrouze.

New France
New France was the name given to all the new territories taken by the French since the XVIIth century. At one time, the territory of New France sprawled from Hudson Bay to the mouth of the Mississippi. It comprised Newfoundland and the whole of Labrador south to Maine. The name ceased to be used after the final conquest of New France by England in 1760.

Notre-Dame-de-la-Recouvrance
Notre-Dame de-la-Recouvrance is the name given to the church Samuel de Champlain ordered built in Québec, a short time following his return en 1633. The name was chosen to emphasize the fact that France had recovered its colony.

parchment
A piece of animal leather stretched to the point of becoming nearly transparent and treated so that one could write on it. In the XVIIth century, paper was rare and expensive, especially in New France.

peoples of Canada
The peoples of Canada are the great native nations who lived on the territory of Canada before the arrival of the Europeans in the XVIth century. These peoples greeted the ones they called the "white men" and helped them in their voyages of exploration.

Percé, rock of
The "Rocher Percé" got its name from Samuel de Champlain who observed it in 1603 in the Gaspé peninsula. At that time, there were two great holes in the rock. In 1845, part of the rock foundered and today, there is only one opening in the rock at Percé.

Perche
In the XVIIth century, the Perche was part of Normandy and the province of France where some of the oldest families of Québec originated : Aubin, Baril, Beaulac, Bouchard, Boucher, Cloutier, Drouin, Gagnon, Giguère, Lambert, Landry, Leduc, Lefebvre, Mercier, Pelletier, Rivard, Tremblay and numerous others. The name Perche has not been used in France for over two centuries.

pionneer
In New France, the pionneer was the person that took the initiative to settle a territory and clear the land. The pionner and the "pionnière", were considered to be the spearhead of the development of the territory.

pitch
Verb used to describe the soft rocking motion of a craft that seems to be swinging on the water.

porringer
Hollow plate in which meat, vegetable and fish soups were served. Porringers were edgeless and they were eventually replaced by bowls.

portage
When navigating a watercourse, explorer sometimes had to carry their rafts and bagage on their backs to avoid waterfalls, rapids or to reach another watercourse.

Rouen
Located on the Seine, a great river in France, Rouen is one of the most important ports of that country. The first families coming from the Perche or the region of Paris traveled along the roads leading to Rouen. From there, they went to Dieppe, one of the sea harbours from which they sailed to New France.

Saint-Louis, Fort
Fort Saint-Louis was a defence ordered built in 1620 by Samuel de Champlain. The site he chose is the peak of the Cape Diamant, a cliff that overlooks the St. Lawrence River at one of the points where it is at its narrowest.

salting-tub
Wooden or eathenware container used for preserving the meat and fish that were to be eaten during the cold season.

seigneur, seigneurie
In New France, the seigneurs were the people to whom the authorities gave or sold large tracts of land, provided that they cleared it, built houses and populated the seigneurie. In order to do this, seigneurs recruited hired men who did this work under contract. At the end of the contract, most hired men accepted to settle on the seigneurie where they had worked so far. The seigneur sold them a parcel of land and guaranteed their security and well-being. The new colonists had some obligations towards the seigneur, such as giving him a small portion of their annual harvest.

sermon
The sermon is the priest's allocution to the faithful during mass.

settler
In the XVIIth century, name given to every person who decided to stay in New France and settle it. Settlers are aslo calles "colonists".

snowshoes
Wooden hoops laced with leather that the peoples of Canada wore to walk in deep snow.

straw mattress
A mattress filled with straw or dry leaves.

surgeon-barber
Surgeon-barbers that settled in New France practised two trades simultaneously : they were surgeons and they were also barbers. As surgeons, they were the only persons allowed to make and sell medicine, treat the sick and make bandages. As barbers, they were the only persons authorized to trim beards; they went from door to door to ply their trade. In 1715, surgeon-barber Simon Soupiran hired a 15-year old apprentice, named François Pampalon alias Labranche. They signed a contract for three years, which clearly states the obligations of both the apprentice and his master :
"Trim all beards and perform all other tasks as ordered by said Soupiran. Surgeon Soupiran promises to show his apprentice whatever he will be capable of learning about surgery, and even to let him go to the hospital when he will have no pressing duties to perform for his master."

Tadoussac
Tadoussac is one of the oldest villages on the North Coast of Québec. Fishermen established seasonal settlements there as early as the XVIth century, for fishing cod and hunting seals and whales. In the XVIIth century, most ships on their way to Québec called in Tadoussac. Because the St. Lawrence River was difficult to navigate, only few ships went all the way to Québec. In most cases, the passengers and goods were transported by smaller craft or transferred to another ship that went to the capital of the colony.

tin
Tin is a light grey metal that is easy to handle. In use since the XIIIth century, tin is still used today for crafting utensils and table ware.

Tourouvre
Tourouvre is a village of the old province of the Perche.

town
It is Boucherville, named after Pierre Boucher. He settled there in 1667 after resigning his post of Governor of Trois-Rivières. At the time of his arrival, the territory of the future town was called the Seigneurie des Iles-Percées, and it was the property of Pierre Boucher.
Boucherville is located on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River, facing the island of Montréal.
(sources: Nos Racines, DBC, CEC Jeunesse)

truchement
The interpreters who travelled with the explorers were called "truchements"