M. 20 Nov 1651 in Quebec City, New France
Wife: Marie-Françoise Hébert
D. 24 Oct 1699 in Montmagny, New France
Guillaume Fournier gained status by marrying into Quebec’s oldest family, and became of patriarch of a significant family of his own. He was born about 1620 in Coulmer-Argentan, France, which was in Normandie. His parents were Gilles Fournier and Noelle Gagnon, but nothing else is known of his early years.
The early settlers' plaque on the Louis Hébert Monument in Quebec City lists Guillaume as having arrived in 1634, but there is no evidence that he was there before 1651. On November 20th of that year, he married Marie-Françoise Hébert, the 13-year-old daughter of Hélene Desportes and Guillaume Hébert. Two years later, they had their first child, a boy who died as an infant. They would have 14 more children, the youngest being born in 1680.
Marriage record of Guillaume Fournier and Marie-Françoise Hébert
Through his marriage, Guillaume became a seigneur, or feudal lord. Land in New France belonged to the king and it was divided into seigneuries. Guillaume was granted a seigneury, and he presided over the habitants who lived on subdivisions of the land. The habitants were required to pay Guillaume a percentage of what they produced from the land, while Guillaume was required to build a gristmill for the habitants' grain.
In 1668, Guillaume acquired his first seigneury through litigation against his wife’s family. The land, which was located in Sault-au-Matelot, had been granted to Louis Hébert as the very first seigneury in New France. Françoise’s aunt Guillemette Hébert held the seigneury along with her husband, and since Guillaume's wife was also an heir of Louis Hébert, he felt he was entitled to a portion of it as well. The case was ruled in Guillaume's favor and he became co-seigneur. Later, the wife of Françoise’s late brother Joseph, Charlotte de Poitiers, claimed some of the land was rightfully hers, and Guillaume had to concede a good portion of his seigneury.
By the early 1670s, Guillaume’s seigneury was in what was becoming the heart of Quebec City. The new administrative leader sent over from France, Jean Talon, acquired the entire seigneury, and Guillaume received another seigneury in a different location away from Quebec City. The grant was given on November 3, 1672, described as “ thirty acres on the river, two leagues in depth in the neighborhood of L'Islet, on the south shore of the St Lawrence.” This would be incorporated as the town of Montmagny in 1678.
Guillaume’s house on his new seigneury was described as being “built of squared beams,” and was 22 feet by 18 feet, single story plus an attic. It had two windows and a door on the north side, and one window on the south side. Mass was held in Guillaume’s house until they could build a church, and on December 21, 1685, Guillaume gave 3 or 4 acres of deforested land for it. This would become the St-Thomas-de-la-Pointe-à-la-Caille parish, and Guillaume is given credit as being its founder.
St-Thomas church as it looked during the 18th century.
Guillaume died at Montmagny on October 24, 1699 and was buried in Saint Odilon de Montmagny Cemetery. His wife Françoise survived him by many years, passing away on March 16, 1716. They were the distant ancestors of Celine Dion, Jack Kerouac, Jim Carrey and Bridget Fonda.
Children:
1. Gilles Fournier — B. 26 Nov 1653, Quebec City, New France; D. 31 Dec 1653, Quebec City, New France
2. Marie-Anne Fournier — B. 5 May 1655, Quebec City, New France; D. 13 Nov 1717, Saint-Pierre-de-la-Riviére-du-Sud, New France; M. Pierre Blanchet (1646-1709), 17 Feb 1670, Quebec City, New France
3. Agathe Fournier — B. 9 Apr 1657, Quebec City, New France; D. 8 Jun 1743, Lauzon, New France; M. Louis Gesseron (1642-1712), 28 Sep 1671, Quebec City, New France
4. Jacquette Fournier — B. 9 Apr 1659, Quebec City, New France; D. 22 Jan 1736, Montmagny, New France; M. Jean Proulx (1646-1703), 5 Jun 1673, Quebec City, New France
5. Joseph Fournier — B. 12 Jul 1661, Quebec City, New France; D. 9 Dec 1741, Montmagny, New France; M. Barbe Girard (1667-1737), 25 Jun 1684, Quebec City, New France
6. Marie-Madeleine Fournier – B. 17 Jul 1663, Quebec City, New France; D. 8 Oct 1664, Quebec City, New France
7. Jean Fournier — B. 18 Mar 1665, Quebec City, New France; D. 17 Sep 1735, Cap-de-la-Madeleine, New France; M. Marie-Jeanne Roy (1664-1751), 2 Jun 1686, Cap-St-Ignace, New France
8. Simon Fournier — B. 20 Apr 1667, Quebec City, New France; D. 8 Dec 1749, Saint-Pierre-de-la-Riviére-du-Sud, New France; M. Anne-Catherine Rousseau (1668-1749), 12 Nov 1691, St-Pierre-Ile ‘d Orleans, New France
9. Pierre Fournier— B. 23 Apr 1669, Quebec City, New France; D. 22 Aug 1750, Montmagny, New France; M. Marie Isabelle (1675-1754), 24 Nov 1695, Montmagny, New France
10. Françoise Fournier— B. 30 Apr 1671, Quebec City, New France; D. 15 Jul 1734, Montmagny, New France; M. Jacques Boulay (1664-1738), 21 Apr 1686, Saint-Thomas, New France
11. Louis Fournier — B. 20 Apr 1673, Quebec City, New France; D. 17 Jun 1721, Montmagny, New France; M. Marie-Jeanne Caron (1678-1724), 19 Nov 1696, Cap-St-Ignace, New France
12. Madeleine Fournier — B. 3 Aug 1675, Quebec City, New France; M. Pierre Laporte (~1675-1757), 2 May 1707, St-François-de-Sales, New France
13. Charles Fournier — B. 20 Jun 1677, Quebec City, New France; D. 9 Sep 1739, Montmagny, New France; M. Elisabeth-Agnes Bouchard (1677-1758), 13 Jul 1699, Cap-St-Ignace, New France
14. Baby Fournier — B. 2 Aug 1679, Montmagny, New France; D. 2 Aug 1679, Montmagny, New France
15. Jacques Fournier — B. 17 Aug 1680, Montmagny, New France; D. 17 Apr 1681, Montmagny, New France
Sources:
Généalogie du Quebec et d’Amérique française (website)
Quebec Catholic Parish Registers, 1621-1979, FamilySearch.org
Hélène’s World: Hélène Desportes of Seventeenth Century Quebec, Susan McNelley, 2014
Report on Canadian Archives and on the System of Keeping Public Records, 1886
Find-a-Grave.com
Seigneurial system of New France (Wikipedia article)
