Plans des forts faicts par le Regiment Carignan salieres sur la Riviere de Richelieu dicte autrement des Iroquois en la Nouvelle france.

Jean Nicolet: Explorer of New France

Jean Nicolet was a well-known Coureur Des Bois who first arrived in Quebec in 1618, settling among the Algonquins in Upper Ottawa and the Nipissing on Allumette Island, where he learned their language and customs. While on the island, he married a local woman and they had a daughter, Euphrosine Marguerite, born in 1630. At the age of 13, she would marry Jean Leblanc, but spent most of her life on the first “Indian Reservation” in Canada at Sillery, where she died on September 30, 1689.

When the French were sent home by the Kirke brothers, Nicolet remained in the area, living with the Huron people. There, he learned of a tribe known as the Puans, or “People of the Sea,” whom he believed might lead him to the Northwest Passage and the riches of the Orient. When the French returned, Nicolet received permission to visit the Puans, who actually called themselves Winnebago. He took with him an embroidered silk robe, which he planned to wear when entertaining the Emperor of China, and two gold pistols as gifts from France. Of course, he didn’t make it to China, but was able to gain the support of the local people and further open the interior for future trade.

In 1642, Jean, a non-swimmer, drowned when his boat capsized, leaving Marguerite a widow at the age of 26. Their first son Ignace, born on December 4, 1640, died soon after birth. Their daughter Marguerite was born on April 21, 1642, and died January 21, 1722, in Montreal. She married Jean-Baptiste Legardeur and had six children.

Jean Nicollet, Sieur de Belleborne

Jean Nicollet was born in Cherbourg around 1598 (estimated), son of Thomas Nicollet and Marguerite de La Mer.

He reportedly signed a contract on March 15, 1616 or 1617 with the merchants of Rouen, formed into a Company, to come to New France. He was in Cherbourg on May 10, 1618 or 1619, selling a property he owned there (faded ink). His parents are named on this document, with his father cited as deceased.[1] He arrived in New France in 1618 with Samuel de Champlain.

Jean as an Interpreter

Like several other young men, Jean was sent among the peoples living in the territory that interested the French, to establish alliances and the fur trade. He was one of the interpreters who learned the languages and customs of these peoples. He first stayed at Allumette Island and learned the Huron and Algonquin languages, then in 1620 he was sent to the Nipissings or Nipissiriniens, a semi-nomadic people who lived around Lake Nipissing.[2] When the Kirke brothers took Quebec in 1629, he took refuge with his Nipissing or Huron friends and convinced them to remain faithful to the French.[3]

During his stay among the Nipissing, he had a daughter with a woman whose name is unknown, whom he would bring with him when he left this people and settled in Trois-Riviùres. This was Magdeleine Nicolet, who adopted the first name Eufrosine during her first marriage, although she later abandoned it. The filiation is attested in the marriage contract made with Jean Leblanc in 1643, where she is cited as “Eufroisine Nicolet formerly called Magdeleine Nicolet, natural daughter of the late Jean Nicolet, aged 15 years”[4], thus born around 1628. According to one site, she would have been entrusted to the care of Marie Rolet by her father; she learned to read and write, and she signs very well on her marriage contract.[5]

After the return of the French, in July 1634, at Champlain’s request, he undertook another journey, this time to the people called Puants, at what is now known as Green Bay, between the modern states of Michigan and Wisconsin.[3:1]

The Jesuit Relations speak of him abundantly. His journal, which he kept but is now lost, was consulted by Father Le Jeune and was the basis of certain data found in the Relations concerning the various peoples he visited.[6]

Life in New France

Jean (Nicolet) Nicollet lived in Canada, New France.

Upon his return in 1635, he settled in Trois-RiviĂšres as a clerk of the Company of One Hundred Associates.[3:2]

Marriage

On October 7, 1637, in Quebec, Jean Nicollet married Marguerite Couillard, daughter of Guillaume Couillard and Guillemette HĂ©bert.[7]

They made a marriage contract before Jean Guitet on October 22, 1637 (original lost).[8][9]

Children

Two known children (see their profiles):

  • Ignace Nicolet, died at birth in December 1640 in Trois-RiviĂšres (exact day missing)
  • Marguerite Nicolet, baptized on April 1, 1642 in Trois-RiviĂšres, born recently, she would marry Jean Baptiste Legardeur on July 4, 1656 in Quebec

Between 1635 and September 1642, Jean is found being godfather to several Native Americans in Trois-Riviùres, and his wife would be godmother to several in the same place. He would also be present at the marriage of Marie d’Abancourt with Jean Joliet in 1639 in Quebec.[10]

In 1642, Jean went to Quebec to temporarily replace his brother-in-law Olivier Le Tardif as general clerk of the Hundred Associates.[3:3]

Death

Urgently recalled from Quebec where he was, Jean Nicollet left on the evening of October 27, 1642, from Quebec in a shallop with François de Chavigny and 3 men in the service of the latter. They would be shipwrecked near Sillery, with François de Chavigny, the only one who knew how to swim, being the sole survivor.[11]

The Jesuit Relation of 1642-1643 speaks in touching terms of Nicolet’s death: “He embarked at Quebec at seven o’clock in the evening,” it says, “in M. de Chavigny’s shallop, which was heading towards Trois-Riviùres. They had not yet arrived at Sillery when a gust of northeast wind, which had excited a horrible storm on the great river, filled the shallop with water and sank it, after making it turn two or three times in the water. Those who were inside did not immediately go to the bottom; they clung for some time to the shallop. M. Nicolet had leisure to say to M. de Chavigny — ‘Sir, save yourself, you know how to swim. I do not; as for me, I am going to God. I commend to you my wife and daughter.’ The waves tore them all one after another from the shallop, which was floating upside down against a rock. M. de Chavigny alone threw himself into the water and swam among the waves and billows, which resembled small mountains.”[11:1]

Jean Nicolet drowned when the shallop capsized near Sillery. His body and those of the men who drowned at the same time were never found. A funeral service was held for them in Quebec on October 29, 1642, which reads: “On the 29th, the funeral of Mr. Nicolet and three men of Mr. de Chavigni drowned in a shallop going from KĂ©bec to Sylleri was held. The bodies were not found. The names of the said three men are Jehan Febve, NoĂ«l Girardeau and __”[12]

His brother Pierre was present at the inventory made after Jean’s death on November 12, 1642.[13]

His name Achirra, which he had from the Native Americans, was given in his honor to Guillaume Cousture in April 1646.[14]

Sources

Further Reading

  • Jean Hamelin, with the collaboration of Jacques Gagnon, “NICOLLET DE BELLEBORNE, JEAN,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 1, University of Toronto/UniversitĂ© Laval, 2003– (EN)
  • Jean Hamelin, avec la collaboration de Jacques Gagnon, « NICOLLET DE BELLEBORNE, JEAN », dans Dictionnaire biographique du Canada, vol. 1, UniversitĂ© Laval/University of Toronto, 2003– (FR)
  • FamilySearch database with images Archives Nationales du Quebec (National Archives of Quebec), Montreal (16 July 2014),“Registres paroissiaux catholiques du QuĂ©bec, 1621-1979,” > QuĂ©bec > Notre-Dame-de-QuĂ©bec > BMS

  1. Collections Canada, Reference: R6286-0-8-F, MG18-B14, Volume number: 1–2, items e011162564-001 – e011162564-008 Deed of sale by Jean Nicollet 1618 1619 Note uncertain year, pale ink / date uncertain, pale ink ↩

  2. Érudit: Gagnon, J. (2015). Les Nipissiriniens depuis Jean Nicollet. Recherches amĂ©rindiennes au QuĂ©bec, 45(1), 75–79. https://doi.org/10.7202/1035166ar ↩

  3. Jean Hamelin, with the collaboration of Jacques Gagnon, “NICOLLET DE BELLEBORNE, JEAN,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 1, University of Toronto/UniversitĂ© Laval, 2003–, accessed May 29, 2024 ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩

  4. FamilySearch: Guillaume Tronquet, Acts, Files 1 1/2-49 (Oct. 11, 1643 – Oct. 1646, July 16, 1648), Granite Mountain Record Vault, United States & Canada Film #2371289 Item 8, Image Group Number (DGS) 8125037, pgs 633-637/2056 marriage contract Jean Leblanc – Eufroisine Nicollet, original ↩

  5. Migrations: Jean Nicollet via Archive.org wayback machine ↩

  6. Jesuit Relations, containing what occurred most remarkably in the missions of the fathers of the Society of Jesus in New France Vol 1, Covering the years 1611, 1626 and the period 1632 to 1641, Quebec, Augustin CotĂ©, Publisher-Printer, 1858 (PDF) ↩

  7. Marriage/marriage Jean Nicollet & Marguerite Couillard FamilySearch (reconstruction, all acts before June 1640 of Quebec were destroyed by a fire, the clergy will make a new register from memory) ↩

  8. BAnQ Notarial acts index Inventory of the records of notaries of the French regime, by Pierre Georges Roy and Antoine Roy; 27 Vol + index 1-8 Vol I pg 10 4° Marriage contract of Jean Nicolet, nobleman, clerk and interpreter, and Marguerite Couillard, daughter of Guillaume Couillard (October 22, 1637). ↩

  9. BAnQ: Jean Guitet 3 elements. Collection Judicial and notarial documents (summary of acts according to the inventory made April 1, 1732.), pg 2/3 ↩

  10. Quebec, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1997 – Drouin IGD ↩

  11. BAnQ: Bulletin des recherches historiques, Vol XL, LĂ©vis, May 1934, No. 5, pgs 298-300 ↩ ↩

  12. Funeral image Jean Nicolet Drouin Collection, IGD (Membership) ↩

  13. Inventory of property of Jean Nicolet 1642-1643 Reference: P1000,S3,D1517 Collection Centre d’archives de QuĂ©bec – Archives nationales Ă  QuĂ©bec Id 367924 ↩

  14. Journal of the Jesuits according to the original manuscript preserved at the Seminary of Quebec; M M abbĂ©s LaverdiĂšre and Casgrain, 1871, LÉGER BROUSSEAU, Printer – Publisher (BAnQ, PDF) pg 42 ↩

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