Louis Hebert: First Apothecary in North America
Louis Gaston Hebert (1575-1627)
First Apothecary in North America, Pioneer, Kingâs Prosecutor, First Canadian Seigneur
Early Life
Louis Gaston Hebert was born in 1575 at 129 Rue Saint-HonorĂ©, Paris, France, at the sign of the Golden Mortar in the parish of Saint-Germain-lâAuxerrois. He was the son of Nicolas Hebert, an apothecary and spice merchant to Queen Catherine deâ Medici, and Jacqueline Pajot.[1][2] His family was quite affluent, with ties to the Royal Court. In this capacity, his father would have had access to the royal palace and, though a bourgeois, would have been respected as a gentleman of the court.
Despite his familyâs status, Louis could not depend on a large inheritance and had to make his own way. After receiving basic training in grammar, letters, and Latin, he studied for five years the various properties of plants and the preparation of remedies under the direction of masters. By the end of his studies in 1600, âHĂ©bert presented himself as a Parisian bourgeois, grocer, and apothecary.â[2]
Marriage and Family
The following year, on February 19, 1601, he married Marie Rollet at the Church of Saint-Sulpice in Paris. She was the daughter of Jean Rollet and Anne Cogu, and the widow of François Dufeu.[3][4][5]
They had three children, all born in France:[6]
- Anne (circa 1602-1619)
- Guillemette (circa 1608-1684)
- Guillaume (circa 1614-1639)
First Voyage to Acadia (1606-1607)
Louis was well-educated, energetic, and adventurous. When he had a chance to travel to the New World with Jean de Biencourt de Poutrincourt, the First Governor at Port Royal, he seized the opportunity. His mother and Poutrincourtâs wife were sisters, and many others on that voyage were also connected to the Pajot family.[7]
In March 1606, at approximately 31 years of age, HĂ©bert signed a contract with explorer Pierre Dugua de Monts to serve one year in New France. His appointment as an apothecary earned him 100 livres, half of which was in cash.[2][8] The ship Le Jonas left La Rochelle on May 23, 1606, with about fifty pioneers and artisans, including HĂ©bert, Poutrincourt (lieutenant-governor of Acadia), and Marc Lescarbot (lawyer and writer). They reached Port Royal on July 27. HĂ©bert took care of sick settlers and indigenous people.[6]
The men quickly planted wheat, rye, hemp, and other grains.[9] Marc Lescarbot wrote in his History of New France: âPoutrincourt [âŠ] had a plot of land cultivated to sow wheat and plant vines, as he did with the help of our Apothecary, Mr. Louis Hebert, a man who, in addition to the experience he has in his art, takes great pleasure in tilling the soil.â[2]
After the fall harvest, Poutrincourt and Samuel de Champlain explored the coast as far as Cape Cod, searching for a second colony. HĂ©bert was part of the expedition.[2] In November of that same year, he attended the first theatrical performance in North America: Neptuneâs Theatre written by Lescarbot. That winter, members of the colony also enjoyed the sumptuous meals organized by Champlain and his âOrder of Good Cheer.â In the summer of 1607, the commercial concession granted to de Monts expired, forcing the entire colony to return to France.[10]
After spending that disastrous winter at Ste. Croix in 1603 and later at Port Royal, the colony had to be abandoned. Hebert returned home, where he resumed his work as a druggist in Paris, with a few new herbal medicines to add to his shelves.
Second Stay at Port Royal (1611-1613)
He returned to Port Royal around 1611 to continue his work as an apothecary. (There are conflicting opinions regarding the year of HĂ©bertâs return to Port Royal. Some researchers say 1610).[9] Under Poutrincourt, several buildings were added to the colony, such as the first water mill in North America.[11] However, further development was hindered by the long winter season and by the scarcity of supplies from France.[9]
HĂ©bert also acted as a mediator in a dispute between the Jesuits and Charles de Biencourt de Saint-Just, the 20-year-old commander of the Port Royal colony, and took over the leadership of Port Royal in his absence in May 1613.[2] He continued to care for sick settlers as well as indigenous peoples, including one of their chiefs, Membertou.
In 1613, the British, under the command of Samuel Argall, burned Port Royal, forcing the settlers to return to France. Port Royal would remain a trading post until 1632 when another attempt to colonize the region succeeded. HĂ©bert would never return to Acadia, choosing instead, at around 42 years of age, to settle in Canada, New France, and to bring his wife and children with him.
Canada, New France (1617-1627)
Several years later, when Champlain was looking for volunteers to settle in Quebec, he approached his old friend Hebert. On March 6, 1617, HĂ©bert signed a three-year contract with the Company of Merchants of Rouen and Saint-Malo to work in New France. He was offered 200 livres per year. However, just before boarding the ship in Honfleur, the company downgraded the conditions: reduced salary, obligation to give the fruits of his land work to the company, and free care for the sick. Louis HĂ©bert had no choice but to accept, having sold all his possessions in France.[2]
On March 11, 1617, Louis HĂ©bert left France permanently aboard the ship Saint-Ătienne. Also on board were his wife Marie Rollet, their children Anne, Guillaume, and Guillemette, as well as explorer Samuel de Champlain. Four months later, they landed in Quebec.[12]
Once they had decided to make Quebec their home, they forged strong ties with the local people. Louis took care of their sick, while Marie taught the native children how to read and write, instructing them in the Christian faith. In turn, the natives taught his family the proper use of snowshoes, toboggans, and canoes, all necessary to survive in the harsh Canadian environment.
In the following months, HĂ©bert built a wooden house that would be replaced a few years later by a stone house.[2] âThese houses are located where, at the beginning of the 21st century, the inner courtyard and parking lot (near rue des Remparts) of the small seminary of Quebec will be found respectively.â[2][13]
âAs early as the following year, Champlain could observe the results of HĂ©bertâs plowing. On the land that would later be known as âSault-au-Matelot,â fields of grain, vegetable gardens, and an orchard of apple trees imported from Normandy would soon be found.â[13] Though they had erroneously selected an uncultivated clump of high ground near the habitation, the family went to work, clearing an area where they could begin planting their crops. There was no plough available, and the tools her husband was able to purchase were practically useless. Still, the small garden he created gave him the honor of being âthe first Canadian farmerâ – though we know he wasnât really the first farmer, only perhaps the first French-Canadian farmer, since the natives had been cultivating crops for more than 5,000 years, and most of what he would eventually learn about agriculture came from them.
In 1620, Champlain entrusted HĂ©bert with the responsibility of administering justice by appointing him the Kingâs prosecutor.[14]
In February 1623, HĂ©bert acquired land in the heart of what is now Quebec City.[15] Three years later, on February 28, 1626,[16] HĂ©bert became seigneur of this land known as Sault-au-Matelot and also obtained land on the Saint-Charles River, the fief of Saint-Joseph, later known as the fief of Lespinay.[2] He became the first Canadian seigneur.[13]
Scientific Contributions
âDuring his stay in New France, HĂ©bert carried his work as an apothecary to a very high level and enabled the New World to participate in the birth of botany in Europe. All of HĂ©bertâs accounts suggest that he sent plants to France: American groundnut, which is used for food; meadow-rue, which promotes healing and perspiration; and wild ginger, whose rhizomes with a ginger flavor help to evacuate bad humors, are a few examples. HĂ©bert certainly owned illustrated identification works.â[2]
His work is certainly reflected in the botany book Canadensium Plantarum published in Paris in 1635, which illustrates 40 North American plants previously unknown in Europe.[17][18] This well-bred, highly educated Parisian may not have been much of a farmer, but he helped to sow the seeds of friendship between the two nations, ensuring continued loyalty to the French.
Death and Legacy
In the winter of 1627, Louis HĂ©bert suffered a fall that proved fatal. Over the years, different authors have mentioned a fall on ice, or even from his roof, but this remains to be proven. The first to mention HĂ©bertâs death was Samuel de Champlain in his book âVoyages du Sieur de Champlain ou Journal Ăšs dĂ©couvertes de la Nouvelle Franceâ published in 1632.[19] He wrote that on January 25, HĂ©bert fell, which led to his death, and added that he was the first head of family to live from what he cultivated.[20]
He was buried in the Recollets cemetery probably the same day or the next day, according to the funeral customs of the time. The Recollets archives were destroyed, so the burial record is forever lost. In 1678, his remains were exhumed and transferred, in the presence of his daughter, perhaps to the Recollets chapel (which is now part of the Quebec General Hospital), or elsewhere in the city.[19][13]
His wife Marie Rollet inherited half of the property, and their daughter Guillemette the other half. Guillaume was still too young, and his daughter Anne was already deceased. The family chose to remain in the colony. Two years later, Marie married Guillaume Hubou.[6]
Much is written about Louisâ contribution to the development of French-Canada, when in fact he was only in Quebec for seven years due to his untimely death, while Marie would spend thirty years there, raising her family, assisting new French settlers, and instructing the Canadian children.
The descendants of Louis Hébert come through his daughter Guillemette, who married Guillaume Couillard, and his granddaughter Françoise Hébert (daughter of Guillaume Hébert) who married Guillaume Fournier. The Hébert name was not passed down after the second generation.[21]