Overview
Our plan for Wednesday, October 4, 2017, was to spend most of the day touring Lower Quebec City. In particular, I was hoping that our exploration would take us to Montmorency Park, where from my father’s visit to Quebec City years ago, it appeared that the park includes a monument to Louis Hebert and Marie Rollet, two of the founders of Quebec City, and my 10th great grandparents on my father’s side. That evening, Bo and Peggy made their own plans, as Patty and I strolled the lower city, and found a nice restaurant for dinner.
Kids in the News
Before we got started for the day, we got a call from Bo and Peggy, in the adjacent hotel room. They were letting us know that their daughter, Julie, was being shown on television. Julie, living in New York City, had made her way into the audience of Good Morning America, and in fact was being shown on TV (Julie is shown behind Lionel Ritchie, just over his right shoulder.).
Returning to Lower Quebec City
So, from Saguenay, that morning we drove back to Quebec City. It was a lovely drive through the wilderness. When we arrived in Quebec, we checked into the Hotel Le Saint-Paul, down in the lower city.
While we were there, one of the staff members mentioned to us that the building used to be owned by Paul Vachon. This seems to fit, as the hotel website says that the first stone for this building, which was used for multiple purposed through the years, was laid in 1511. 1630 to 1703.
Montmorency Park
Our first excursion of the day was to try to find Montmorency Park. As it turns out, this park is only about the size of a city block, perched on the edge of the cliff just above Old Town Quebec City (just north of the Funiculaire, or inclined elevator down to the Old Town). From satellite imagery, this park just looked like a clump of trees. But by going there in person we were able to find this pretty impressive monument to some of my ancestors.
- Marie Rollet, who with Louis Hebert are my 10th Great Grandparents – Nikon D500 RAW, 50 mm, f/2.0, 1/250 seconds, ISO 400
- Me, in front of a monument to my 10th great grandfather, Louis Hebert – Nikon D500 RAW, 50 mm, f/6.3, 1/250 seconds, ISO 400
- Guillaume Coulliard, son-in-law of Louis Hebert & Marie Rollet – Nikon D500 RAW, 50 mm, f/2.2, 1/250 seconds, ISO 400
Louis Hebert was born around 1575 in Paris, France. By 1600, following in the footsteps of his father, he had established himself as an apothecary and spice merchant in Paris, where in 1601 he married Marie Rollet. In 1604, Louis joined an expedition led by his cousin, Pierre de Gugua, Sieur de Mons. to set up an outpost on Saint Croix Island, a small uninhabited island in the state of Maine, near the mouth of the Saint Croix River, which separates Maine from New Brunswick, Canada. This 100 yd. X 200 yd. island was the site of one of Henry IV’s first attempts at year-round inhabitation of New France.

Location of Saint Croix Island, ME relative to Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, Canada

Buildings on Saint Croix Island, 1613
The expedition’s first winter was very hard. There was a shortage of fresh water and firewood, and 36 of the 80 expedition members died of scurvy.
In 1606, Louis rejoined the expedition, now located at Port-Royal (now called Annapolis Royal, on Nova Scotia, Canada). As a pharmacist, he was interested in plants and enjoyed horticulture, seeming to possess a “green thumb”, growing hemp and other plants. He was highly regarded, and particular note was made of his knowledge and pleasure in cultivating the land. He participated in the construction of a grist-mill on the Allain River near present-day Annapolis Royal. Experimental farming activities were conducted, with various grains being seeded in the local fields. He looked after the health of the pioneers, and he cultivated native drug plants introduced to him by the Micmac Indians. He returned to France in 1607, after the trade concession that had been granted to the de Mons expedition had expired.
In 1610, Louis Hebert returned to Port Royal with Jean de Biencourt de Poutrincourt. Louis continued his agricultural interests, sowing wheat and planting vines. The colony at Port Royal seemed to take root, but in 1613 it was destroyed by the English coming up from Virginia. The French colonists returned to France, and Louis established a medical practice and apothecary shop in Paris.
During the winter of 1616-1617, Samuel Champlain was searching for support for a colony at what is now Quebec City. The Compagnie de Canada made Hebert an offer: If he would take his family to Quebec for three years and practice medicine in the settlement and establish farming, the company would pay him an annual salary of 600 livres (pounds) and grant him ten acres of land at the settlement on which to build his house and farm.
So in April of 1617, Louis sold his practice and his home, and he proceeded with his wife Marie, and their three children , Anne (14 years old), Marie Guillaumette (9 years old), and Guillaume (3 years old, and my 9th great grandfather) to the port of Honfleur, France. When he arrived, Louis was told by the ship’s master that instructions from the Compagnie de Canada were that they could only board if Louis agreed to sign a new contract with the company reducing his annual salary to 300 livres, and requiring him to serve as the physician and surgeon for the settlement. It also required him to farm his ten acres of land and give the company exclusive rights to buy all of his agricultural products at the prevailing price in France. Having already uprooted himself and his family, he reluctantly agreed.
On April 11, 1617, Hebert and his family left Honfleur aboard the Saint-Etienne (captained by Normand Morin) and arrived in Quebec on 15 July. Only five other French families were to follow them on similar voyages to New France in the next 10 years.
In the spring of 1617, Louis became the first private individual to receive a grant of land in the New World from the French government. Soon after his arrival in Quebec, Louis selected his plot and started clearing some old-growth forest so he could plant crops. This put him in conflict with the fur trading company, who was strongly opposed to deforestation for farming. The fur trading company would not let him import a plow from France. On this land, Louis, his son Guillaume, and an unnamed servant using only an axe, a pick, and a spade, broke the soil and raised corn, winter wheat, beans, peas, and livestock, including cattle, swine, and fowl. He also established an apple orchard and a vineyard. Today, the land that the Heberts owned is located beyond the ramparts overlooking Quebec City, between Rue Sainte-Famille and Rue Hebert, on the grounds of the Seminary of Quebec and the Basilica of Notre Dame (His plot likely included Montmorency Park. I located the ruins of the Hebert home on Day 7 of this trip.).
By 1620, Louis’ hard work was finally recognized as having been of great service to the colony: for being a physician and surgeon; for being its principle provider of food; and for having fostered good relationships with the natives. He was appointed Procurator to the King, which allowed him to personally intervene in matters in the name of the King.
In 1621, Louis’s daughter, Guillemette married Guillaume Couillard, who joined the family business.
In 1623, Louis became the first “Seigneur” of New France, when he was granted the noble fief of “Sault-au-Matelot”. In 1626, he was further granted “le fief de la riviere, St Charles” in recognition of his meritorious service.
Louis died on January 25, 1627 due to injuries sustained after slipping on a patch of ice. He was first buried in the cemetery of the Recollets, but in 1678 his remains were transported to the newly built vault of the Recollets (the Franciscans). Hebert was the first to be laid to rest in this new structure.
Two years after Louis’ death, Marie Rollet married Guillaume Hubou.
Interestingly, my lineage to the Heberts is not linear. Branches of Louis and Marie’s family tree that split through their great granddaughters Jacquette and Marie Francoise Fournier, later reformed through the August 9, 1836 marriage of Sophia Carmelle Richard (1818-1881) with her fourth cousin once removed, Jean Baptiste Hebert (1815-1908). Five generations later, this line resulted in … me. These two branches are highlighted below:
- Louis Gaston Hebert (1575-1627) & Marie Rollet (TBD-1649)
- Guillaume Hebert (1614-1639) & Helene DePortes (1620-1675)
- Francoise Hebert (1638-1716) & Lord Guillaume Fournier (1619-1699)
- Jacquette Fournier (1659-1736) & Jean Preault dit Proulx (1647-1703)
- Denis Preault (1676-1749) & Marie Anne Gagne (1674-1751)
- Ann Preault (1703-TBD) & Louis Picard (1701-TBD)
- Louise Picard (TBD-TBD) & Charles Laprise (TBD-TBD)
- Marie-Marguerite Laprise (TBD-TBD) & Charles Basile Richard (1757-1808)
- Charles Abraham Richard (1789-1846) & Cecile Kemineur dit Laflamme (1789-1874)
- Sophia Carmelle Richard * (1818-1881) & Jean Baptiste Hebert * (1815-1908)
- Marie Josephine Hebert (1845-1909) & Julien Leblanc (1836-1904)
- Elizabeth Cordelia Leblanc/White (1870-1939) & Salyme Bonneau Sr. (1863-1946)
- Mary Nellie Bonneau (1904-1986) & Charles Adolph Fink (1898-1973)
- Charles Augustin Fink (1929-2008) & Ann Theresa Heslen (1928-1981)
- Richard Gerard Fink (1959 – TBD)
- Louis Gaston Hebert (1575-1627) & Marie Rollet (TBD-1649)
- Guillaume Hebert (1614-1639) & Helene DePortes (1620-1675)
- Francoise Hebert (1638-1716) & Lord Guillaume Fournier (1619-1699)
- Marie Francoise Fournier (1671-1734) & Jacques Boulet (1664-1738)
- Paul Boulet (TBD-TBD) & Marie-Claire Miville dit Deschenes (1710-1770)
- Marguerite Boulet (TBD-TBD) & Lazare Gamache (1744-TBD)
- Marguerite Gamache (1785-1861) & Joseph Hebert (1771-1860)
- Jean Baptiste Hebert * (1815-1908) & Sophia Carmelle Richard * (1818-1881)
- Marie Josephine Hebert (1845-1909) & Julien Leblanc (1836-1904)
- Elizabeth Cordelia Leblanc/White (1870-1939) & Salyme Bonneau Sr. (1863-1946)
- Mary Nellie Bonneau (1904-1986) & Charles Adolph Fink (1898-1973)
- Charles Augustin John Fink (1929-2008) & Ann Theresa Heslen (1928-1981)
- Richard Gerard Fink (1959-TBD)
Old Town Quebec City
TBD.
- Le Vendome Restaurant (closed), Cote de la Montagne, just below Montmorency Park, Quebec City, Canada
- Looking down on Fresque des Québécois on Côte de la Montagne. This mural recounts the story of Québec City, weaving in visual allusions to its unique architecture and fortifications, and its larger-than-life personalities. Look closely at the building’s windows: you’ll see some 15 historic figures and nearly a dozen of Québec’s leading writers and artists.
- Looking North on Boulevard Champlain, Old Quebec City, Canada
- At the foot of Escalier Casse-Cou (Breakneck Steps), is Fresque du Petit-Champlain. It depicts milestones in the history of Cap-Blanc, Québec City’s working-class waterfront neighbourhood, from the beginnings of New France until the present day.
- Looking North on Rue du Cul de Sac (Umbrella Alley) in Old Quebec City, Canada
- Looking South on Rue du Cul de Sac (Umbrella Alley) in Old Quebec City, Canada
Dinner at Rioux & Pettigrew
TBD.
- Chez Rioux & Pettigrew, Rue Saint-Paul, Quebec City, Canada
After Dinner Stroll
TBD.
- On Rue Sous-le-Cap, just below the Ramparts, Quebec City, Canada
- A stunning oil in the window at Gallery Perreault, Rue Saint-Paul, Quebec City, Canada
Leave a reply